Superboy's Family
by KaliAnn
Summary: Superboy was not Cadmus's only hero project. Two more have escaped to seek out their fellow "brother" in hopes he can help keep them safe and rescue more of their family. Superboy steps up to the responsibility hoping to earn what Superman won't give him, love. Part 1 of trilogy
1. Escape from Cadmus

_Author Note: Some people have reviewed said that this wasn't cannon. I want to point out I wrote this during our first long hiatus so any stories following this timeline will be different then cannon. Thank you. P.S. Support my work by reading my original novel "Battle for the Stars" available via my profile. _

It was a crisp late mid-fall night in October. Beneath the wreckage of what had been the faux exterior for Cadmus, the underground facility was alive and well. Guardian had done well during his short tenure as Head of the main facility. The Board had sent many new human workers to continue research, as well as to run the facility so the genomorphs wouldn't have to work so hard. Changes were slow and difficult, but there was some advancement towards Guardians ideals. At the moment he was having a review meeting with Dr. Spence going over the latest Project Blockbuster results. In attempt to restore the good name of Cadmus, Guardian had ordered all previous projects stopped and to see if there were alternate usage for them.

"According to my test results certain sequences of Project Blockbuster can reverse, instead of accelerating mutations, the key components could be used to create new vaccines against serious infections. With enough time we could apply some of what we learn to rarer medical disease and find cures for rare metabolic, genetic, and respiratory diseases. I talked to my old friend at John Hopkins and she believes we are on to something."

"I wonder if Desmond would be proud to know that his hard work in creating living weapons can actually save lives instead of taking them. The Board will be pleased, as this will do wonders for our image. Where's Dubbilex? I haven't seen him in a few hours," Guardian remarked, going over his notes. His old genognome sat nearby out of habit, but wasn't invading his thoughts; which he was very thankful for.

"The Board asked him to be in charge of the transfer of some of the genomorphs to our auxiliary base in Herdonan, VA. Apparently a rash of sickness has disabled most of the human workers and the Board felt the genomorphs weren't at risk of getting sick. I also think Dubbilex wanted to say hi to some friends there," Dr. Spence informed him.

"Of course must have slipped my mind. Well he'll be back tomorrow and then we can continue this meeting. For now I think we should all get some rest. I have a feeling tomorrow will be a good day," Guardian told her, not knowing that his words were prophetic for some.

About seventy five miles away in another facility strange things were happening. On the surface the five story office/research facility appeared to be normal. This facility did use its faux top for public relations and its intended purposes, but there were seventeen underground floors filled with facilities with hidden entrances and exits below where the real work was done. The floors ranged from training arenas, laboratories, and infirmary to personal living quarters and dinning center for the employees who lived there.

Dubbilex was supervising the last of the transfer from an underground tunnel that connected to the surface via an elevator on level three. He was telepathically telling his brethren their patrol routes, who to report to along with a mental layout of the underground levels. He placed his hand on a DNA recognition terminal pad granting him access to the computer system so he could enter in the genetic sequences of the new genomorphs so the security system recognized them. It was a tiring process, but it would be worth it in the end. He sensed a presence behind him and turned to greet his two escorts, two members of Checkmate currently on assignment with Cadmus. "Ah Negative Woman, Mr. Jagger, it's a pleasure to see you again."

"That's White Queen and White Knight Dubbilex, don't forget that," Valitina Vostok voiced, with a hint of eastern European accent. The blond haired women glanced down at the computer pad impatiently. Smoothing a non existent wrinkle in her white body suit, she spoke directly to him. "You were supposed to be finished with the transfer two hours ago. What is taking so long?"

"I apologize for that. The situation here was direr then expected. I had to call in for a second delivery and then there was familiarizing the genomorphs with the new layout and staff before entering them into this facilities database. I will attempt to speed up the process."

"Take as much time as you need, we want to be sure this facility is secure and that events that occurred in yours do not repeat. We've reached a critical stage with our Projects. Any unexpected factors could derail months of preparation," White Knight coldly informed him. He didn't trust the genomorphs at all. It was highly suspicious how they all just failed to carry out there duty and stop the escape of Kr and his friends.

"How are your Projects doing? I haven't seen them since you brought them to our facility back in June."

"Our Projects are none of your concern. All you need to know is my colleague Thinker has already made sure mine in is his pod for the night. Queen's assistants have made sure the same goes for her Project. If you would excuse us, we have to go check on some security issues. Finish what your doing and report back to us. Come on White Queen."

"Coming, ugh that Dubbilex and the rest of his kind make my stomach turn. I didn't defect from the Soviet Union and join Checkmate to deal with man made monsters. I joined to secure the safety and security of this country from the evils of the universe. At least our Projects are more natural and haven't rebelled."

"The circumstances of what happened at the main facility are still clouded. We can't be certain it wasn't Desmond arrogance that caused project Kr to slip away. We just have to remain vigilante and step up the training for when Kr is reunited with them," he said as they two entered Central Control and started going over the itinerary list, and discussing with the head of security the best way to use the morphs. This facility prided itself on its human personal keeping this place up and running and not the monsters. They refused to become remit as their sister facility.

An AI android, by the name of Thinker, was just leaving his charge's room after securing him in a biopod for his nightly upload and rest on Level Ten. The former AI had been a program created by Mr. Terrific of the JSA, but had rebelled and forged its own evil path. Thinker had been near "death" when the Light had discovered him. In exchange for becoming a Project Handler they repaired him and even created android body for his use. It was a very satisfying deal.

"Subject Beyond is asleep for the night. I ran a check on the biopod and its functioning within parameters. Daily upload from cybernetic implant commencing in five minutes. Lockdown of room completed. Subject is secured," Thinker reported over the comlink.

"Thank you Thinker, report to techs for defrag and virus check to your systems. You're way overdue for maintenance and we can't afford to have you start degrading," White Knight ordered. It was disconcerting to work with an evil AI, but the entity had been here longer then him so he was forced to trust him. At least he wouldn't have to deal with him for the rest of the night. Once the techs began their maintenance check and upgrade they couldn't stop until completed without losing Thinker. That was not an option.

Back in the small room the lights had been dimmed. The room was rather tiny slightly bigger then a utility closet. On one wall there were computer and medical monitors hooked up to a computer terminal and the biopod. A small work table with a variety of tools sat neatly in the corner with a small shelf filled with detective novels, criminology and forensics texts along with a history book on great advisers. In the back of the room was a small biopod, just the right size for a small child. Indeed a small boy about ten with short black hair wearing a white body suit with black accents and a blood red bat on his chest was strapped to the table. A cable was hooked to the back of his head uploading data of some sort from an internal cybernetic implant while a genognome watched him keeping an eye on the boy and his dreams.

The biopod was designed not to release the child unless an outside source commanded it and right now Project Batman Beyond, (which was written on his pod), was in his sleep cycle dreaming. In his dreams the boy relieved memories of past events not even daring to dream for the future.

It was shortly after midnight when a voice entered hi mind. "_The time to escape draws close. You must go before your gateway is closed. You have fifteen minutes at best. Wake up!"_

Right then the biopod malfunctioned and the straps disengaged. The boy's blue eyes sprang open. He dropped and rolled out of his pod before slapping a small electric disk to the pod forcing it to close. The cable was no longer connected to him, but was still uploading his memories and data he inscribed onto the device to the Cadmus Mainframe. It would take them awhile to discover the artificialness and search for the cause, but by then he hoped to be gone.

Beyond hurried over to his desk barely acknowledging the little gnome that plopped on his shoulder. He pulled out a hidden duffel pack already packed with his spare outfit and his special mini wrist hard drive/computer, he and his Handler Thinker had designed, with more abilities then any known computer. Also there were large stacks of cash he managed to steal from the repository when Handler White Knight was reviewing his paycheck. This would come in handy.

He needed to get going, the guard cycle was shifting. "Thanks for freeing me little guy. Can you help me into the vents? I need to pick up a few items from R&D."

The gnome chatted and gave him a boost as Beyond started making his way through the vents. He was careful to avoid the motion and heat sensors using his computer to get around them. At one moment he froze when he sensed someone looking into the vents; pressing up against the shadows willing himself to be invisible. Finally, he made it to R&D on Level Eight, activating an EM pulse generator to knock out security and cameras, before quickly wiggling into the room. Seven minutes had passed as he used Handler White Knight's card to open a cabinet full of toys he helped designed and could be useful for his escape. Spying a certain piece of equipment, he placed the cybernetic jammer on his head. A tingle was felt as the first time, since he was six when the cybernetic implant was installed in his brain, its transmission was being blocked. Stuffing another one and the last of the equipment into the bag he dove back into the vent pressing his right palm and focusing his thoughts on his partner.

During the time Beyond was being freed and making his way to R&D there was movement happening on Level Six in another Project's room. The inside was similar to his only this one had tables filled with battle models and books and video on strategy and tactics. Two female guards with laser pistols stood watch over the biopod containing a teenage girl about fourteen with long black hair braided and emerald green eyes wearing a white form fitting sundress with sandals. The name on her biopod read Project W.G.a was embossed on the glass.

When her biopod disengaged, the two guards quireled around blasting at the Project, but she wasn't in the pod anymore. The little gnome that had been on the biopod monitoring the girl's dreams was freaked and jumped on top of one of the woman's face causing her to curse and fire random shots. As her partner moved to help the teen made her move. She had hidden under a model and now levitated in the air split kicking the guns away before driving her elbows into their throats cutting off their air supply. They soon succumbed to unconsciousness where she proceeded to rip out some computer cable tying them up and stealing their key cards. She stuffed something from her desk into her pocket hurrying out the door.

W.G.a made her way through the passageways. In her mind she tactfully went over the best ways to avoid patrols and how to not be picked up by full spectrum sensor sweeps. Summoning all her willpower, she managed to levitate to the ceiling. She started crawling through the hallways and taking a stairwell to the Level Five, reaching the Special Armory. Swiping the card the door opened. She ignored the villain tech, guns, and battle suits making her way to the Project Locker. White Queen stored items that would be used in training here, not trusting her to keep them with her. She rubbed her wrists remembering the punishment White Queen had given her for questioning her methods.

The key cards were useless here. You needed thumbprint ID and access code, but W.G.a had already thought of this. One item she had brought from her room was a print embedded into a piece of her models. She pressed it onto the pad watching the red pad blink green. Next she tapped in the code. "What do you always tell me White Queen? The only thing that matters to an operative is performing her duty. Blessed be," W.G.a whispered, as the code worked. Hurriedly she stuffed the items she was searching for into her pockets along with a few extra goodies. She closed the locker and felt something itch on her palm, as the seven minute mark passed. She had to hurry.

W.G.a hugged the wall and waited for her chance to make it to the rendezvous point unseen. A trio of genotrolls was marching past with a couple of human guards accompanying them on their patrol. Their view of her was blocked by the massive girth. Taking a deep breath she counted down to three. On three, she swiftly jumped grabbing a hold of the beast and rolled onto its stomach hugging it tightly. The guards didn't notice a thing as they made their way down the corridor. She held until the reached a certain section of Level Five. When they reached a key three way juncture she crawled to the top of the beast and reached out snagging a pipe holding herself there until the patrol past by. When she was sure it was safe she dropped to the ground. She heard a noise coming from above her. She looked up just in time to catch a falling Beyond. "That was foolish Beyond. What if I hadn't been here to catch you?"

"I knew you were here. Did you get what we needed from the Armory?"

"Yes, here keep them safe. For right now I rather not risk losing them. I managed to knock out my guards without backup being called and no one saw me as I left the Armory. How about you?"

"The AI computer disk should keep them unaware of my absence for a little while longer and I used the EM pulse generator to knock out most of the security systems. I was able to hack into the central mainframe during my time in the vents. All cameras are on a loop and I planted a virus into the system that should give them trouble. Come on we have less then six minutes to get out of here before they realize something wrong."

"Hey what are you two doing out of your pods?" A voice shouted from the other end of the hall. A squadron of eight security guards brandishing laser pistols, cuff guns, and a one mean looking glowing energy baton spotted the two Projects. They had completed their circuit a few minutes ahead of schedule and knew that the Projects were supposed to be in their biopods for their nightly sleep cycle and upload. "Stay right where you are or they'll be trouble!"

"Crap! I didn't think they be here so soon!" W.G.a muttered. Beyond took action using the weapons she had handed him seconds before. He hurled three smoke bombs onto the ground creating a cloud of blackish green smoke filling the entire junction up.

The guards began to cough and gag on the gas before managing to put on their gas masks. The guard with the cuff gun made his way to the wall and felt for a terminal. With his eyes watering he tapped in a code that activated the ceiling vans clearing away the smoke. The squadron looked up in time to see, three groups of W.G.a with Beyond on her back, racing down the different junctures. He raised his scope to see which had a heat signature, but all three were giving off heat.

"Sir, I can't figure out which ones are the real ones! They're all giving off heat!"

"Never mind, Alpha take the right, Beta middle, Gamma left. Delta alert the rest of security and get me some genomorphs to help with the search. I'll contact their Handlers. Remember you can injure them, but they must be taken alive! The Projects are too valuable to lose! Go!" the head guard (Omega) shouted dispersing his squadron. They did as they were told as emergency alarms sounded off. He tapped his comlink knowing he was going to be getting chewed out about this.

In Central Command, White Queen and White Knight had just finished going over the itinerary for tomorrow and how they were going to be using some of the genomorphs in training, when the alarms started going off. Head of security Zeta turned to his grunts monitoring the high tech systems. "What in the name of the seven heavens is going on? Report!"

"Sir we just received intel from squadron 5 leader Omega that he encountered Projects Batman Beyond and Project W.G.a on Level Five; near junction ten. When ordered to stand down they released a smokescreen and now the squad is chasing three different versions of them down the corridors."

"That's impossible Beyond and W.G.a are in their sleep cycle and uploading their daily memories! We would have been alerted if they left their biopods prematurely. Bring up footage and data on their rooms now!" White Queen commanded.

"Yes Ma'me!" a grunt said hurriedly bringing up the footage of the two Projects rooms as well as the computer data on screen. The data clearly showed an upload in progress, but it was repeating the same sequence of events over and over just at different intervals to confuse the computer. The video footage showed them in their biopods, but White Knight typed in an algorithm Thinker had shown him to break the loop. They weren't in their pods!

"Dammit! I'm not having a repeat of what happened in the main HQ here! Find them now! Lock onto the cybernetic implants GPS and give them a jolt now!" White Queen shouted.

"Unable to comply, something is jamming the link. I can't remotely activate it from here!"

"Forget it. Then use the full spectrum sensors and cameras to find them. We can't waste time chasing ghosts."

"Attempting to do that right now, but something's wrong with the system. Much of its down thanks to an EM pulse frying the system. I'm attempting to access the video footage, but someone's spliced in a continuous loop. I can't undo this!"

"Then initiate a full scale lock down now!" White Knight shouted. He was getting extremely anxious and kept fingering his service arm. There was no way this was happening on his watch. Both Handlers refused to accept failure as an option.

The grunt attempted to do just that, but Beyond's virus fried the system. They would have to attempt a reboot, but the only way to that was to draw on power and energy from Thinker's separate AI system. Something they could normally do if he wasn't in the middle of upgrade health check.

"Sir, this Alpha squadron reporting in! We cornered the two Projects only to have them dissolve into nothing. It appears they were generated by a holographic moving sphere!" Alpha reported in. Beta and Gamma reported the same thing before they started coughing and gagging.

"What's going on there? Report!" White Queen shouted anxiously. She knew those holographic spheres didn't harm the subject despite their solid real life projections. She used them when training W.G.a in use of her super strength and agility while at the same time keeping her tactical skills sharp. Now that same technology was being used against them.

"This is Omega cough…repor….my men… are frozen… and I'm…having cough… trouble breathing. My..ung..fee…like… their own fire ah!" Omega said, before he dissolve into a coughing fit that abruptly ended.

"The paralyzing gas bombs from the Special Armory. I showed Beyond how to use them to protect himself just last week. He must have managed to get a hand on some. Unless you've been injected with the antidote you'll succumb to the effects within minutes."

"Never mind that now if we don't find our Projects fast they're going to escape just like Kr did! The Board will not be pleased one little bit if we lose more of their precious resources. I don't know about you, but I refuse to be punished for something that wasn't my fault! Dubbilex, you better have every genomorph out tracking down the Projects! Security, listen up we have escaped Projects on the loose. Guard every entrance and make sure they stay contained. Come on White Knight, we have to get them back in biopods before this get's out hand," White Queen informed her partner. She literally flew out of the room with her hands glowing with explosive energy. White Knight grabbed a couple extra weapons and headed out after her.

Meanwhile the two Projects had managed to get to Level Three. Beyond was still on W.G.a back, keeping a firm grip on her and the duffel. The two of them were tired and exhausted, but freedom was in their reach. They just had to make it out the service entrance, but there were at least twenty guards and several genomorphs watching the exit.

"I can take five or six guards no problem. You could probably handle maybe one or two with your capoeira moves, but that still leaves to many to handle. Also, the genomorphs are on high alert, willingly to attack us if we get even close to the exit. What do you advice?" W.G.a asked the small boy.

"It's too late to head for an alternative exit and even the lesser known ones will be guarded. A simple distraction will not deter them from the exit and we know our Handlers are out searching for us. We have maybe two minutes left before escape is entirely impossible. Our best course of action would be to thin the ranks and power on through before escaping. How I have no idea."

"Look! The genomorphs are leaving! They must have received orders to try and block us from the first floor entrance. Hold on I have an idea," W.G.a whispered. She crawled around the crates and vehicles sticking to the shadows. As more genomorphs passed by she used their bodies to shield the two of them, while staying out of their line of sight in case they were spotted. Finally, they were right next to the ramp hidden. She whispered something to Beyond who carefully extracted his computer. Bringing up some voice print files, he hacked into the comlink isolating those guards from the rest before using White Knight's voice to order half of them away. Now they could handle the rest.

White Queen was just solidifying herself after passing through Level Four when she spotted the men. White Knight came around the corner looking stunned to see them. "What are you men doing? Your orders were to guard the service entrance!"

"But sir, didn't you command us to come assist you search the Level a few minutes ago?" asked a confused soldier.

"No I didn't why would you? Beyond! Curse Thinker for teaching him that trick, come on they're in the service bay!" The group headed to the bay area only to find the rest of the squad out cold and the Projects long gone. They had let two of Cadmus most valuable Projects escape. The Board was not going to be happy.

A few hours later after order had been restored and Thinker was back on his feet, they along with Dubbilex were getting ready to explain themselves to the Board. White Queen and Knight were not looking forward to this on little bit as the Board members appeared. They took a deep breath, strengthened their uniforms and looked the Board in the eyes, sort of.

"Explain why are you calling at this late hour? Did something go wrong with the transfer?"

"No sir, the transfer of genomorphs personal went smoothly."

"Then what is the problem?"

"Shortly after midnight, Projects Batman Beyond and W. G.a's biopods malfunctioned releasing them. The two of them took out their guards and raided both the R&D and the Special Armory before making their escape. All attempts to capture them were made, but they sabotaged our systems and somehow are blocking the cybernetic implants for tracking. They escaped through the service entrance and are in the wind. Why the genomorphs weren't more effective I have no idea," White Queen explained evenly.

"The genomorphs only followed your orders. I don't know why they weren't more successful in apprehending the Projects, but they did as much as they could. After all we live to serve Cadmus," Dubbilex insisted.

"Your loyalty and that of your kind are not in question Dubbilex. You have always served the Light, and while it is upsetting that two breakouts happened under your watch we don't hold you at fault. What was taken exactly?"

"A review of inventory reveals; that along with the proto batsuit and weaponry that went with it, the RSS, jammers, and a couple of grappling guns, along with a few EM pulse generators and a toolkit are missing. I designed those jammers with Beyond to prevent outside electrical influence. I believe he's modified them for his own use. Along with his computer, several thousand dollars are missing from the repository. A search of the armory reveals the bracelets and the synthetic lasso are gone. I also am sad to report much of our files have been copied by Beyond. I'm unsure if he'll be able to unlock the more encrypted ones, but anything is possible," Thinker reported, already thinking of the possibilities of what could be done with the materials listed. Those files were especially disturbing. That information in the wrong hands could spell the end for the Light

"It appears that the Projects thought their escape out. Not only did they know what to take with them, they knew when the best night to make their move was. How come this wasn't picked up in their dreams and memories uploads?"

"Yes don't you review what your Projects are thinking every night? This shouldn't have happened."

"Sirs, we've looked over the last six months worth of uploads and there was never any indication they would do this. We trained them diligently to obey the Light and respect their Handlers. While their escape puzzles me I swear they are loyal to the Light. Perhaps they left in order to secure Kr again and continue with Project Hero Light. That is their primary purpose and reason for being," White Knight suggest still not believing his Project would leave voluntarily.

"Perhaps or his escape inspired them to want to be free. Either way they must be recaptured before the League finds them. We have already lost one weapon to them. Should they discover the existence of the two Projects the entirety of Cadmus could be undermined."

"Not to mention our entire agenda as the Light could be compromised."

"Sirs, the Projects are what the local authorities would claim to be runaways. They might be picked up and sent to a group home until their parents claim them. A DNA test would ruin everything. It might be best to alert authorities about our missing children."

"We'll hold off from doing that right now. For now we need you to monitor the system for when the jammers fail and we can lock onto them again. Prepare a strike team for the retrieval and have all necessary material ready. In the meantime, beef up security and contact the other facilities in case something similar happens. We'll keep the League busy, as well as their protégé. After all, the Projects will seek out Kr one way or another it's their nature to. You're dismissed for now. Be ready to redeem yourselves should we contact you again," The Light instructed the four before leaving them with their thoughts. The two Checkmate agents looked at one another in silent agreement. They would do whatever it took to get their Projects back and punish them for their insolence. No one made them look like incompetent fools.

At the moment, Beyond and W.G.a were hugging the top of Greyhound roof tightly as they could. After escaping the facility they managed to use one grappling gun to get onto the roof of the passing vehicle. They didn't have an exact plan at the moment, as they sped northward at eighty miles an hour. Right now they were running on pure adrenaline and trying to survive the ride long enough to think of what came next.

Beyond glanced over and saw beads of perspiration trailing down W.G.a's face and could feel the same thing happening on his own. It was a sign that the cybernetic implants were adapting to the jammers. He should have taken this into account the adaptability of the devices; after all he designed them. He had never ever thought of escape before. It was W.G.a who convinced him of the necessity. She had already witnessed the horrors such as the death of her "sisters". W.G.a had been one of four projects of variety techniques using her donor's blood. Project B had developed malignant tumors and D had mental problems causing both to be put down. Project C had attempted to kill a scientist so she was forced to kill her "sister" in a life and death struggle. She still had nightmares of that incident.

He was thankful that he hadn't had to deal with that. With his genius IQ of 145 and being trained in advisory/detective skills, he hadn't seen a lot of action. You need someone to design a cover up story or monitor League activity, he was your boy. Need someone to fight, well not so much. His full physical training wasn't to begin until after he had gone through puberty, though White Knight had been preparing him for the last two years. However, he didn't know how he felt about his primary objective of killing, replacing, and surpassing Batman, so he agreed to help his friend/sister

"How are you holding up? Are you in pain?" Beyond asked her with great concern.

"Not much I'll be okay really. Are you warm enough? We should probably try to ride inside once the bus stops."

"Can't risk it, security cameras will catch us and besides we don't have tickets. Our clothes will also draw attention. We'll have to find another way to travel. Are you sure that Kr will be able to help us?"

"He's our leader and he's been in the outside world longer then we have. I'm sure time with his genetic donor, I mean father, has taught him much. If anyone can help us it's him. We just have to find him. I heard White Queen talking about him with some of my guards. She mentioned he was spotted in a town in Rhode Island called Happy Harbor. I know it's predictable, but if he's there then."

"Then we need to seek his assistance. I just hope he remembers us. Our only contact lasted less then two hours and was months ago. We don't know what adverse affects to his mind could have occurred for being prematurely released."

"We have to take that chance. Its October 11th now. If we continue to hitchhike and take the back roads we should reach our destination by the 14th. I just hope we can find some nourishment to sustain us. We should alert him that we're coming so he's not surprised by our arrival. Can you boost the link so we can contact him?" W.G.a asked whispering something under her breath. On a right palm, her symbol appeared in a circle. Beyond did the same thing and took a few tools from the bag and carefully, while still keeping a grip on the bus, tinkered with the symbols and his computer.

A few minutes later the ten year old spoke shivering in the cold air. "I boosted the signal and increased the range by bouncing it off one of Cadmus satellites. We can attempt to reach him, but only for two and half minutes before we shut down so Cadmus doesn't detect our activity. Hopefully we can use these ink ids properly when we see big brother again."

Deep in the bowls of Mount Justice Superboy was in his comfortable, but bare bedroom. When he was told he would be living in Mount Justice he didn't bother personalizing the room because he didn't know what to put in it. Also he had secretly hoped Superman would come around and invite him to live with him, but so far the man had barely acknowledge him during the past four months. So in a strange form of rebellion he refused all his friends attempts to personalize the space. So all that was in the bedroom was some furniture, a few spare outfits in his dresser and small photo of the team after their first mission with Artemis photo shopped in. That was it and it spoke of nothing of the child twitching in his bed and breathing hard.

"No, no don't want go back. Who are you?" Superboy whimpered sweat beads forming on his face. His face twisted in agony as he struggled to wake from the strange dream.

_Superboy found himself semiconscious inside his biopod for the first time in his short life. He felt smaller and less powerful then he did now. His eyes attempted to flutter open, but the gnomes refused to allow him to awaken fully. Instead he listened keenly the happenings of the world outside him._

"_This is an enormous mistake! The weapon is only fourteen weeks old and highly unstable at this point in time. The genomorphs haven't completed his education yet! Dr. Spence is still running daily checks to ensure that our weapon doesn't fall apart like the others. I insist you come back once our weapon has finished his growth development and is fully prepared before beginning integration with other Projects!" Desmond shouted angrily._

"_Doc, you need to calm down. You're disturbing the genomorphs with all your yelling," Dubbilex cautioned him._

"_Doc, there's no harm waking the Project up for two hours and besides they do have orders from the Board to be here now," Guardian reasonable voice pierced the haze. What were they all talking about?_

"_What's the matter Desmond afraid that you lose control of the one thing that makes you our equal? We all know that the fate of Kr's Handler is still up in the air. Delaying the meeting between our Projects is just an attempt to make yourself look better for the Board," a female voice with a strange accent replied coldly to Desmond. Even without seeing her he could almost feel the smirk on her face._

"_Mark, I highly doubt you be the one chosen as Handler. You're just not a good match up for Project Kr. You should focus your efforts on Project Blockbuster. Now release him from his sleep so we can begin the integration," a male voice said. Another more robotic voice also insisted that Desmond free him. _

_He heard Desmond near his biopod's terminal muttering things mostly curses and how he was going to show them. As the biopod hissed and started to disengage Desmond walked over to Guardian and Dubbilex. He told Guardian to watch _him_ like a hawk and Dubbilex to repress the memories once the meeting was over. It was a bit of power play to keep control of the Project longer. _

_The biobed he was on tilted forward and as his eyes fluttered open he caught a glimpse of his reflection. He was smaller by a good four inches and less developed, but that didn't matter when he focused on the people standing in front of him. Three adults, one android and two normal humans in uniforms eyed him, before stepping aside revealing a stranger a pair. A girl with black hair in a braid and a little boy._

"_Help us Kr were in trouble and need your help!" the girl pleaded_

"_You have to remember us! Please Kr were counting on you!" the boy begged_

Superboy woke up screaming and swung his fists destroying his nightstand. Megan came flying in the room dressed in her Martian pjs. "Superboy what's wrong? I felt a lot of fear coming from in here. Did you have a bad dream?"

"Megan it's, I mean, sorry I woke you it was just a bad dream. I don't even remember what it was about. Please go back to bed. We have a new mission tomorrow."

"If you're sure I could stay with you. Help you remember it if you want to?"

"No I'll be fine just go please." Superboy watched her leave before letting out a breath he'd been holding. He didn't know what to make out that dream. It felt almost like a memory, but that was impossible. He hadn't been out of his pod before the boys found him, and he certainly didn't meet any other children in Cadmus. Still, as he laid back down scratching his palm he couldn't help, but wonder if he's dream was trying to tell him something important. Perhaps a foreshadowing of things to come?


	2. Meetings

It had been three days since the escape from the auxiliary facility occurred, and right now the Handlers' were doing their best to keep business running efficiently. Thanks to the distraction provided by the Light, the facility was able to repair that damage and begun the difficult task of trying to locate their missing Projects. It was turning out to be harder then expected. All the training they had put into the Projects was now being used against them in an attempt to remain free.

"I'll say this for them; after they've been strictly disciplined for breaking protocol and unauthorized leave from the facility, we should reward them. After all, they're handling introduction to blending in urban civilizations quite well if we haven't been able to track them down," White Knight remarked, as they once again tried to scan for their implants. Thinker had tried to lock onto multiple frequencies, but the jammers were still scrambling the signal. All they had been determined, from short bleed throughs, was that the two of them were together and heading north.

"Project Beyond was trained in criminology and observation. His knowledge of security devices and tracking methods is equal to any degreed scientist. I credit him with keeping them out of any video footage. I wouldn't be surprised if he's found someone to make the money he stole untraceable. He really is our little genius," Thinker reminded the other two Handlers, cackling as he viewed thousands of different data streams hoping to catch a foretaste of the boy.

"Project W.G.a is also quite capable of pulling her weight. I've trained her to push past any obstacle and achieve her objective no matter the cost. Nothing else matters except the mission. It's why I was recruited from the Secret Service to Checkmate. I never lost sight of the goal," White Queen remarked from her station. She was compiling all available data on the Projects, still trying to understand how her charge managed to plan an escape when her memories were examined nightly. So far she had been unable to uncover any clue leading her to suspect inside help. She would be sure to mention that to the strike team. "We're running out of options here. If we don't find a lead soon the Light will have our heads on a salver."

"Calm yourself, the Light is already on it. According to the news feeds the League has been very busy with a rash of robotic troubles and an increase in villainous rampage. Once they call in their protégés to help with the load, Superboy will appear. Like metal to a magnet Beyond and W.G.a will be drawn to him. Whether to capture him or ask for assistance it won't matter. They will be exposed and once we know his position our strike team can move in for the capture. All three Projects will be back with Cadmus in the next few days. So stop worrying so much. If worse comes to worse, we'll get them back ourselves. After all we raised them and know them better then anyone else in universe," White Knight assured her. He twirled his side arm and shouldered it, showing off to calm her nerves.

"Trust him on this White Queen. Those Projects are as good as gift wrapped and emailed to us," Thinker cackled.

About thirty miles south of Happy Harbor, a truck transporting chickens was rumbling down a country lane. The driver seemed intent on hitting every pothole as he tapped along with music. He didn't notice the back of his trailer slowly opening revealing a cloaked figure. W.G.a took a look around, judging the speed of the truck and checking to make sure no one else was coming. As the truck reached a bend in the road she jumped off rolling down the grassy knoll. Beyond was close behind her keeping a firm grip on the bag as they both came tumbling to a stop near the edge of a grove. Brushing off dirt they darted into the grove to recap.

"That was the longest hundred and fifty miles ever. Was it really necessary to leave that big of tip?" Beyond asked, checking their supplies. Of the three thousand they had started with they were down to a thousand and fifty dollars.

"He helped us by keeping us warm last night and providing us with some nourishment. He should be rewarded," W.G.a replied kindly, smoothing out her clothes unnecessarily. Cadmus clothing was made of unique fabric blend that memorized its host measurements always fitting. It would also never stretch, stain, rip or get really dirty because it repelled the dirt. The only thing that could possibly damage it was another Project in a rage.

It had not been an easy three days for the Projects, after getting off the Greyhound and disappearing into the night. They were hungry and tired with no real idea how to get to their destination. They had run into some homeless people, who helped shelter them and get them food at a soup kitchen. They had traded a large amount of money for their dirty cloaks and meager food supplies. They avoided crowded areas and places with cameras giving up more cash for gossip and hitchhiking rides. They had stowed away on the last one, leaving reimbursement for the man's unknown help. It had all been worth it. They were at last close to their destination.

"We're only thirty miles away from Happy Harbor and according the latest gossip we heard the League's been active."

Beyond snorted, of course the League was busy, Cadmus was keeping them busy so they didn't find out about them! "If the League's busy how do we know if they'll send Kr into the field near here?"

"We don't, but the closer we are, the easier we'll be able to contact him. Plus, your computer vid feeds told us that there's been trouble nearby. I figure if we hike the rest of the way were bound to run into Kr. Wouldn't you agree?"

"Your logic is sound and right now I'm too tired to come up with an alternative. I envy your endurance. Handler White Knight hasn't quite gotten my level up to yours."

"Get on, I'll carry you part of the way. Just remember this isn't a permanent thing. Try calling him again to let him know we're almost there," W.G.a said, helping Beyond onto her back. She started marching through the forest in the direction of Happy Harbor praying that they Kr would meet them soon.

Superboy grimaced and tried to focus as the pain in his head and hand started up again. The last three nights had not been very pleasant for him. He had repetitive nightmares of that same dream and each time they ended with that mysterious duo begging him for help. He wasn't sure what it meant, but refused to confide in anyone. He would figure this out on his own.

"Superboy are you okay? I'm sensing a lot of confusion and frustration coming from you," Megan whispered. The team was assembled in front of the main computer, along with their mentors and other members of the Justice League. Superman had just arrived and was having a private conversation with Wonder Woman, not even looking at him. It was very frustrating wanting the man to acknowledge him and not even being given a second glance.

"Superboy? Hello are you there?"

"I'm fine Megan really. I'm just dealing with another headache all. I've been having them off and on again for the last thee days. It's nothing serious really."

"I didn't think Supey could get headaches. Man this is a first!" Kid Flash joked softly.

"Hanging around you it's not surprising. You've given me plenty of headaches," Robin retorted. KF attempted to go after Robin, but Artemis hit upside the head with her arrow giving them the stink eye.

"Could you two act anymore immature? We're about to be assigned a serious mission and you two are acting like you just got out of daycare," Artemis muttered under her breath.

"Peace everyone, they are about to begin. Superboy, are you sure you headaches aren't affecting your health too adversely?" Aqualad inquired. As team leader it was his responsibility to ensure he's team health was one hundred percent. When he saw Superboy shake his head; he weighed the value of mentioning the problem to their mentors or respecting Superboy's privacy. He chose to ignore the headaches for now and instead faced forward as the mission briefing between the League and Young Justice began.

Batman began the briefing by playing a few news clips showing different villains from multiple cities boldly going out and causing mayhem and destruction. A second smaller window showed a group of unique robots marching and tearing up cities and landscapes.

"Three days ago there was a sudden increase in supervillian activity in Justice League members' home cities. With reserve members' assistance, the League has been able to keep the supervillians bedlam in check. League satellites also discovered a piece of interesting information. This second screen shows a newly developed group of automatons on the move."

"At first it appeared the automatons were the work of Dr. Ivo, to cause mayhem and get back at the League for dismantling Amazo, but closer inspections shows the design and materials are not the variety Ivo uses. Also, the computers determined the robots were on search and burn mission," Red Tornado explained.

"Searching for what exactly?"

"We're not sure, but they have been covering every roadway, railway, and even major airports and searching small towns up and down the New England area from Virginia to here. We believe that the increase of villain activity is to cover up the robots attempts to find whatever it is they're searching for. Whatever it is it must be extremely valuable for the masterminds to order a wide range villain attack to keep us busy."

"Makes sense, so our mission is to stop the robots?" Robin asked.

"Yes, you and the rest of the Young Justice team will fly out and intercept a squad of these automatons just twenty miles south of here. You are to disable the automatons and search for clues to who's controlling them. Once that's completed you are to bring the robots back here for further analysis. The Leagues satellites' have done a preliminary analysis of their capabilities which have been downloaded into your ship's memory. These robots are extremely dangerous and you need to be careful. We don't want any of you getting hurt. If you need League assistance call us and we'll respond as soon as possible alright?" Superman finished up. The team all nodded and prepared to leave, but not before getting a few words of encouragement and advice from their mentors. Superboy looked at him and took a step toward him, but the Man of Steel quickly turned away and hurried to catch up with rest of the League.

Even after four months he couldn't face the clone. A part of him knew what he was doing was wrong and that his parents would be ashamed of his behavior, but he just didn't know what to do. He hadn't even told them about the boy. How do you explain your DNA was stolen and used to create a living weapon? Superboy appeared to be almost an exact replica of him as teenager, but no one knew about the limits of his powers. Bruce had tried get him involved stating it was part of being his father, but no way was he a father!

Superman had been so deep in thought he hadn't notice that Young Justice had left, and the Justice League members had cornered him just outside the teleportation room surrounding him and preventing him from leaving. "What is this? We've our own mission to deal with at the moment. The supervillians will overwhelm the police forces quickly if we don't get back to assist with their capture."

"The police and reserve members are holding their own right now, but we've agreed its time to stage an intervention with you," Wonder Woman explained. Other members of the intervention team included the mentors along with both GL and Hawk people. Black Canary and Red Tornado had already left to help out until the intervention was finished. "Kal, we think you have a serious problem."

"Diana we don't have time for this and I can not fathom what predicament you think I'm suffering from that needs an intervention, especially not right at this moment. I'd be happy to work with the rest of the League after we completed this mission, but an intervention is really a big inconvenience at the moment."

"Then when will we discuss this after another four months have passed? You don't want to admit it, but there is a problem. Your relationship between Superboy is causing friction between the League and Young Justice. Frankly we're getting sick of it," Green Arrow snapped at him angrily. He knew the dangers of messing up a relationship with a kid after Roy left. He didn't want to see Superboy go lone wolf as well if Superman didn't step up and take responsibility.

"The boy has been here for four months and you have barely spared him more then a few words. He looks up to you as his idol and his parental figure. I know it's disturbing how he came to be here, but right now you need to step up and take responsibility for him. He needs someone to show him how to manage his powers. Live a normal life and have fun. Give him a real name for starters," Hawkwoman insisted, next to her Hawkman nodded in agreement.

"The boy could become a skilled warrior and symbol of hope. He could move beyond just being a living weapon if you gave him a chance," Hawkman added.

"I know its unsettling having a clone of yourself around, but he's not a carbon copy of you. He's very different then you. He's got a short temper and more explosive and he's not always responsible. If he stays on this path then Cadmus plans for him will come true. You can't just keep ignoring the boy. It's adversely affecting both of your performances. Cleary your head is not out of the sky," Batman coldly asserted.

"Batman is right Kal, you can't just keep ignoring the boy hoping that it will solve itself. You have to step up and take your place as his father," Wonder Woman chastised him.

The expression on Superman's face was a mixture of betrayal, hurt, mostly anger directed at his best friends, for involving the rest of the league in this ridiculous intervention. He just snapped. "Stop acting all high and mighty why don't you all? Until the rest of you, discover that some third party illegally used your blood to create a child and then expect yourselves to get involved, knowing the horrible truth then we'll talk! I'm not Superboy's father and he's not my son. He doesn't need me and I don't need him. We have more pressing matters to deal with. So please let's focus on that!" he growled before flying into the teleporter and vanishing.

"Well he's right about one thing. None of us know what he's going through," Hal Jordon/GL stated.

"Regardless he needs to come to terms with what's going on. Just out of inquisitiveness Batman did your investigation of Cadmus reveal anymore surprise genetic Projects we should be aware of?" John Steward/GL asked.

"Investigation of Cadmus is still ongoing. There are many more layers to the lab and variety of connections to uncover. It could months before we know everything."

"So while were waiting we should get back to defending our cities," Aquaman said.

"Right Wally would rub it in my face forever if he's team finished their mission before us."

The bioship was nearing their destination. Dusk was falling as the group hovered over a thicket of trees, grasses, and plants near an old abandon road were a squadron of automatons. These robots were very different then the Amazo one they fought two months ago. These ones were humanoid in shape and muscular like Amazo, but their torso and upper legs were black and burnt orange with reflective silver on the legs and arms. The head was v shape with pulsating red eyes. Popping out of all the metal works were different weapons and scanners.

"There are six droids below us. Bioship sensors are detecting level 5 weaponry. They have enough shielding to protect them from most of our attacks. I haven't been able to discern a weak spot you. Should we attack as group or work individually?" Ms. Martian asked. Before Aqualad could respond the droids started shooting ultra powerful high intensity microwave beams at the ship. Everyone screamed as the ship rocked back and force.

"It appears that they can detect us even when were cloaked! Ms. Martian get us out of here!"

"Attempting to, but my link with the ship's been disabled! We're flying blind right now ah!"

"Everyone abandon ship! Stay together and protect one another! Once you've destroyed one droid help someone with the others move!" They all jumped out of the ship which was trembling so bad it looked like it would bust at the seams. The team landed in gully as the ship end up in a nearby glade. The droids moved in weapons blazing firing energy weapons and other surprises at the group.

Artemis yanked three arrows out notching them as she ran at the targets. Leaping over some rocks she released them watching in satisfaction as her arrows zinged through the air nailing three of the droids weapons. So she thought, until she saw the force field screen protecting them from damage. "Okay this is going to be a lot harder then I thought." As one droid took a swat at her she blocked with her bow and pushed it back with all her strength a mere few feet. This would be harder then she thought.

Robin back flipped out the way and hurled several birdarangs and one explosive disk at the droid. A thermal weapon popped out of the wrist and shot down the birdarangs, but the explosion caused it to wobble a bit on its feet before taking a swipe at him with one of its razor sharp claws. Robin dodged to the left having the claws tear through parts of his cape. Catching his breath he got ready to launch another attack this time with his own body.

Kid Flash was zigzagging back and force generating wind forces trying to avoid being killed by razor discs or shot at. He tried to zoom in close and dismantle his opponent, but those force screens were giving him trouble. He would rush in to rip off parts of the droids legs and arms receiving an electric shock. He managed to hold on and peel a tiny fraction of the metal away. "What are these things made of?"

"_I don't know, but they're adapting to everything we do_!" Miss Martian shouted telepathically flying around with one of them chasing her in the air. She tried using her telekinesis to rip off the rocket boots. There was some resistance and all she managed to do was loosen its joints. "_These things are extremely durable. I don't think one on one is working._"

"_Agreed! The only thing that seems to harm them is their own weaponry_," Aqualad agreed telepathically. He and Superboy had teamed up against a particular nasty droid. He had already sprayed them with water and tried to use his bioelectric energy to short circuit the being, but it seemed to have shielding. Superboy was punching and kicking with all his might just trying to destroy them. For some strange reason the droid kept trying to stick him with a sharp needle.

"Targeting, targeting, secondary target identified. Attempt to retrieve if possible."

"What's it going on about? Why does it keep trying to jab me?" Superboy demanded angrily.

"I'm not sure, but we'll find out once we dismantle these things. Everyone get into position! On the count of three rush each other. Be ready to duck! One, two, three!" All six of them took off running towards the center of the gully the droids locked on to them determine to incapacitate the interlopers. At just the right moment they all ducked and rolled behind some cover as the squadrons smash together creating a mini explosion.

The sound was defining and the heat burned both Aqualad and Miss Martian. The others were covering their ears trying to prevent from going deaf. At last the explosion dissipated, the sounds quieted down. The night breeze whistled gently through the gully. Finally they all came out of hiding and saw the mess of parts scattered across ground.

"This is going to take a while to clean up. We need to get all the parts back for Red Tornado to begin study. If we miss one component then we might lose a key clue to who built these things and why," Artemis warned her friends.

"Don't worry I'll have this all cleaned up in a few minutes. The rest of you can make a final sweep making sure I don't miss any parts got it?" Kid Flash said already lowering his goggles to zoom across the grounds when the pieces started to move.

Robin turned on his wrist computer and started scanning the pieces frantically trying to determine what was going on. "The pieces are sending out some high frequency command codes. I can't hack them fast enough, but it seems to be an emergency code to help them complete their mission!" he warned them as the pieces swirled around clamping down forming a very large about twelve foot droid with a large menacing jaws and weapons pointing at the group.

"This doesn't look good," Miss Martian said.

"Stay strong we can handle this! Surrounded it and follow my lead!" Aqualad commanded as round two begin. They were so busy they didn't notice that they had an audience watching them.

W.G.a and Beyond had arrived after hiking the ten miles to the gully. What they saw made them pause, as they took shelter a few feet from the fighting. "Those are Omega class combat/retrieval droids. Those droids are used only in high level training or in dangerous combat situations for Cadmus. They must have been sent to retrieve us," W.G.a said, worried as she watched Young Justice fighting the droid. Her heart went out for Kr as she observed him fight valiantly against the droid protecting his friends.

"The droids engaged Omega Orange protocol. In that mode it's likely to kill everyone who gets in the way of it completing its mission. In this state the droid has increased offensive and defensive powers, shielding, more weapons, and greater speed. They're going to die."

"Isn't there anything you can do to help them? One about your EM pulse generators?"

"Out of the five I have left one's the right size, but it only work if it's sitting on top of the AI matrix. There's a thin gap between the head and neck joint. Theoretically if we could just slip this in there at the exact moment the force field drops we could permanently knock out the droids while erasing its memory core. But I can't throw it that far and with enough force."

"Leave that to me, just be ready to run. I have a feeling we'll be talking with big brother Kr soon," W.G.a said. The two watched and waited for just the right moment. Finally Kr had flipped the droid over his shoulder and was pounding it to pieces. At the perfect moment W.G.a hurled the device through the gap. The EM generator latched onto the AI matrix and pulse three different waves of EM energy frying the system.

Young Justice was shocked, but pleased that they had defeated the droid. They were beginning to dismantle and take the parts back when Superboy's head snapped up. "I heard something. Something human."

"Look over there!" Artemis pointed as they saw shadows darting away in three different directions. Artemis, Robin, and Superboy took off after the shadowy folks while Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Miss Martian continued to box up droid and pack it onto the bioship.

Superboy was leaping as fast as he could after the two shapes that were just barely out running him. His heart was pounding, adrenaline rushing. The itching on his palm was growing stronger. The headache was growing in intensity, but he refused to abandon his search. Not when he was that close to the truth. "Stop! Whoever you are you can't escape!"

The chase ended about two and half miles away from the group, at the edge of meadow and tree line. The two beings had come to a rest near the tree line. He walked through the meadow closer to them. Suddenly he stopped in his tracks as he saw the two figures turn towards. A jolt went through his body. It was **THEM!**

"Kr we finally found you," The girl said, with such relief in her voice.

"It looks like escaping Cadmus has helped you. Maybe you can help us," the boy articulated in a matter of fact tone.

"You're the two from my dreams! The ones I met when I was in Cadmus. I don't know who you are, but I'm not going back!" Superboy shouted charging the dazed duo that were stationary. This was not the reunion they were hoping for.


	3. Questions and Answers

W.G.a and Beyond rolled out of the way at the last instant to avoid being struck by Superboy. Beyond got up first, he started digging frantically through his duffel searching for a piece of equipment to help them out. "This isn't how I expect to be reunited with my big brother," he muttered. He looked up when he felt a shadow over him. He let out a scream as a fast punch was thrown his way.

"Die Cadmus scum!" Superboy yelled, just as he was tackled to the ground by the girl. The two of them rolled around the meadow tearing up the grass and flowers. Mud was flying all over the place. The two of them started wrestling around before she managed to shove him off her body.

"Stop this please Kr. We don't want to hurt you!" W.G.a shouted. He charged her at super speed and she cartwheeled out of the way. He came at her again, she jumped over him. Again and again they danced, but her super human agility and flexibility worked to her advantage, keeping just out of reach. "Kr please, we're your friends we don't want to hurt you!"

"Lies! I'm not going back to Cadmus! I don't trust anyone from Cadmus!" Superboy shouted, as he kept swinging and punching her with all his might. It was amazing how well she was able to keep up with him. Her strength was near his level as pushed her back until she stumbled over a tree root. She shielded herself as he got ready to hit her when he let out a howl of pain. The little boy had launched a cable restraining Superboy. Superboy growled, snapping the cable as he said, "Let go of me you little freak!"

"Calm down and use your brain Kr! If we were part of a Cadmus Retrieval Unit, we've capture you and brought you back already, not stand here attempting to talk to you! God you're just as thickheaded as your genetic donor!" Beyond yelled leaping onto his back and boxing him in his ear. Superboy kept thrashing back and forth trying to throw the little boy off and actually succeed as Beyond hit the trunk of a tree and slid down with a slight cut on his forehead.

"Beyond! Kr stop this right now! Don't your remember us? We've met before," W.G.a pleaded, as she approached him slowly. She held her hands up showing she had nothing in them. "We've met once before Kr. Two weeks before you escaped from the main facility. You have to remember us, just think hard please. Dubbilex said you would help us if we found you."

Superboy looked at her wild eyed. He clutched his head it was hurting so badly. His palm was itching so badly and he felt like his body was on fire. He didn't know what to make it of it. All he knew is he wanted to attack them, make them go away along with the soreness. All of a sudden he felt himself getting fatigued and weak. He sank to the ground panting. He struggled to find the source of his weakness, and saw the little boy pointing what appeared to be a silver flashlight with buttons on it at him bathing him in red light.

"Beyond what are you doing? You can't use the Red Sun Simulator on him! It's hurting him!"

"I'm supposed to let him keep attacking us then? He doesn't remember us W.G.a and he was trying to kill us! At least this way he'll listen!"

"The genognomes must have suppressed the memories of our time together. Give him a chance to recall us. Please, put that away I promise he won't attack us he just needs a refresher."

Beyond was hesitant to let him up and the RSS was only on setting one. "Fine, but you better have a plan to remember us," he said turning off the RSS. He watched as Superboy got to his feet shakily. He was taking shaky steps towards them when W.G.a held out her right palm and so did Beyond.

"Kr, you have to remember us and this will prove that were not here to hurt you. Inkcheck!" The itching on his palm intensified and he looked at his palm in wonder as his super shield appeared. A quick glance showed that the girl and boy had Wonder Woman and Batman's symbol on their palms. He stared in conjecture and he felt something a tingle in the back of his mind. A memory flashed in front of him, one that had been repressed from his waking mind.

_"Kr, I want you to meet your future teammates. This is Project W.G.a and Project Batman Beyond," Guardian said, introducing him to the two Projects. Superboy just looked at them not sure what to do. He had never met people his own age before._

_ "It's nice to meet you Kr. I look forward to working with you," W.G.a said shaking his hand._

_ "I guess you're our leader, but you're more like my big brother," Beyond added squeezing the other hand._

_ "Don't talk to him like that! You'll ruin him!" Desmond spat._

_ "Quite Desmond; if he wants to call him that why not allow it? A familiar bond will make them work better together. After all aren't we all one big family?" White Knight responded. _

_ "Family?" Superboy whispered as he held his new friends hands. He gave them a small smile and the three of them felt a pleasant tingling. The start of their bond._

The memory dissipated and he saw the two standing right next to him looking down expectantly. He tried to catch his breath and speak at the same time. He struggled to stand and talk at the same time. What he had just witnessed was unbelievable. "I've been having dreams….of you….two. What is this mark, what's going on?"

"It's a nanoscopic voice activated ink. Think of it as your id, passport, and brand all rolled into one. It's how we, Cadmus Projects, identify one another when we're undercover or how our Handlers and personal keep track of what we're doing. The ink check reveals our Project name, our Handlers, who our donor is, and what mission were on currently. Information can be transferred through physical touch. A nice side effect is we can share feelings and certain memories through our bond when we're close. Kr, we can answer all your questions and more if you come with us. Unless you want us to go with you and your friends. It's your call and we trust you," W.G.a told him and Beyond nodded.

Superboy's com beeped and he heard Aqualad's voice. He noticed how tense the two of them got when they heard him talking. "Superboy we've secured the parts in the bioship. Robin and Artemis have returned. They didn't find any trace of any humans in the vicinity. What about you?"

"I didn't find anything; I'm going to look a little longer. I'll meet you guys back at Mount Justice."

"Superboy our orders were to return as soon as the mission was over. Report back to the bioship immediately. We need to return and report our findings."

"I'll be back later when I'm done searching! Don't worry about me!" Superboy responded, shutting his com off so they wouldn't be able trace him. He looked at the duo and noticed for the first time how tired they looked. He smiled when he heard their stomachs rumbling. "I've got a lot of questions, but first I think we need to get you two some food. There's a diner on the edge of the highway, near a town about ten miles from here. Can either of you fly?"

"I can levitate, but not fly. Beyond doesn't have any special powers."

"You can't fly yet Kr? That's surprising."

"Yeah, well I can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Hold onto to me okay. I'll get us there in little bit." He saw they were hesitant to go with him, but hunger won out. The two of them wrapped their arms around Superboy and he leaped away carrying his two friends tightly.

Dottie's Truck and Dine was a small old fashion diner that truckers went to fuel up before making the journey to bigger cities. Not a lot of security. It was a bit of rough house, but for the most part decent folk worked and ate there. So when three kids walked in the door and the staff saw they were dirty, had torn clothes, and bleeding they didn't hesitate to help out.

"Oh my you poor kids, come with me I'll get you cleaned up. My name's Dottie what's yours?" the old owner asked taking the kids to the back room. One of the waitresses came over with a first aid kit and they began treating the cuts and scrapes.

"We really don't have names that we can use. We're kind of hoping we could get something to eat. We have money," Beyond said, wincing as the antiseptic was used on his cut. He reached to get the money, but Dottie stopped him.

"Its okay sweetie. Do you have someone I can call for you and your siblings?"

"No, we're on our own. Really it's okay. We have big brother watching over us. He keeps us safe," W.G.a placated. She didn't know if they could trust the humans or if they'd call the police, but right now they needed help.

"Nothing is going to hurt them or me. We're just really hungry right now," Superboy told the lady. He knew there clothes, especially his shirt, were raising some questions, but was amazed when the staff just ignored them and helped clean them up. He was lucky his super strength hadn't done more then tear a few pieces off the fabric.

"Alright you kids have your secrets. Why don't you go take a seat out front and I'll get you something to eat. Don't worry about paying its on the house kids. Millie, make sure the kids have some chocolate milk okay?"

Millie situated the three of them and gave them each a tall glass of chocolate milk. She smiled pleasantly and told them to relax while Dottie got them some food. A few minutes later they each had a big plate full of fries, burgers, some rolls and butter along with a bowl of vanilla ice cream. "Holler if you guys need more or want a doggy bag okay?"

W.G.a and Beyond were hesitant to eat the food at first. They had a strict diet when they lived in Cadmus, eating healthy and specially designed food. Hamburgers hadn't been one of their foods, but after one bite they were hooked. Even Superboy found he liked burgers. They ate for a few minutes before Superboy cleared his throat and looked at them expectantly.

"Well you said you would answer my questions. Are you two clones like me? Why were you at a separate facility? What did you mean by Handlers? What's with the strange things in your hair? What was that device you used on me? What kind of powers do you have? What,"

"Slow down Kr one question at a time!" Beyond said.

"My name isn't Kr its Superboy."

"Your name is the second half of your Project designation? I thought you might have a real name by now."

"Beyond."

"What W.G.a? He's been in the real world for four and half months."

"We'll discuss his name later right now we should answer his questions. For your information, no we're not clones of our genetic donors I mean parents. Cadmus experimented with multiple genetic projects when working on Project Hero Light is my understanding."

"Project Hero Light? What is that exactly?"

Beyond reached into his duffel and pulled out his computer. He pressed some buttons on the holographic screen and soon two files came up pertaining to the Projects. There was a third document showing a memo with several sections blacked out. The parts not blacked out mentioned Project Hero Light.

"As near as I can tell from the files we stole and what our Handlers told us, each of us is a different piece of a grand Project commissioned by the Board of Directors also known as the Light who has been running Cadmus for the past one hundred and twenty five years. Most of the data on the subject is confidential and I haven't been able to hack it yet, but we do know that Cadmus was ordered to create an army of superhero beings from the genetic codes of the hero community. Each of us was developed for specific purpose using a variety of methods and kept in different facilities to protect the Project as a whole. It's only just now they started integrating us starting with me and W.G.a eight months ago. I'm still searching for more information on the Project and the Light."

"Why not force grow all the Projects to maturity? Why create Projects through multiple means that age normally? Children are not as powerful as adults."

"True, but we can be controlled easier and trained without questioning our Handlers. We get stronger faster then adults. There's also the psychological factor that our genetic donors I mean parents have to deal with us."

"Handlers? No wait don't answer that just yet. First if your not clones what kind of Projects are you? What roles were you suppose to play and why do you trust me so much? What are your powers? Then tell me what Handlers are."

"I'm a breeding Project and Beyond's a eugenics. My full Project name is W.G.a. I was one of four attempts to create an Amazon army for Cadmus and the Light. I'm also the only one of my sisters to survive," W.G.a said quietly as she stared at her chocolate milk. After a few minutes she continued. "We don't have names, but sometimes I would hear White Queen, my Handler, referring to us by pet names. Project B or Babe was like you. They attempted to force grow a clone of Wonder Woman and it seemed to work. Until she developed malignant tumors due to the accelerated growth process. Project D or Donna was supposed to be a eugenics to create a sister of Wonder Woman, but she developed multiple personality disorder. I was three when they were put down. It wasn't pretty. What happened to C was worse."

"You don't have to tell him if you don't want to W.G.a."

"Its okay he needs to know. C or Cassie, was similar to me in that she was a breeding Project; however where my DNA was combined with the blood from a well known human activist/ philanthropist Tyson Bay in order to give Cadmus access to his funds and improve my immunity system, Cassie was created by combing WW genes with what was termed God genetics. I'm still unsure how they managed to secure it, but my sister was a demigod."

"That's not possible. I believe in magic and other dimensions not to mention aliens, but gods? You're joking right?"

"Kr, I can assure she's not take a look for yourself if you don't believe her," Beyond said. He showed him the file including a picture of the girl's genes. It was frightening to look at.

"What happened to her, your sister? How did she die?" Instead of answering him verbally she clutched his hand in hers sharing the memory that had been embossed in her cranium.

_W.G.a was unsure why she was in the training arena with C. The girl had gone wild during a check up; nearly killing a scientist and injuring several technicians. At the moment her sister looked as if she was overcome with a bezerker rage. "C what's going on? Why are you looking at me like that?"_

_ "Die!" C bellowed as she literally flew at W.G.a who just barely managed to get out the way. The enraged blond picked up a three ton weight sending flying at her. W.G. a barely managed to catch it and hold it; at nine her powers were still developing, her strength barely able to hold the three tons. She tossed it aside only to have the girl grab her and smash into the floor again and again. _

_ W.G.a kicked her hard in the chest knocking the wind out of C and making her let go. W.G.a was attempting to catch her breath. She tapped her com trying to contact White Queen. "Handler what's going on? Why is Project C trying to kill me? What are my orders?" she asked rapidly as she started to deflect minor missiles. C screamed in rage clawing at her trying to draw blood._

_ "Project W.G.c has turned traitor. She attempted to take the life of her superior. She's too dangerous to be allowed to survive. Your orders are to kill her."_

_ "KILL HER? But she's…"_

_ "W.G.a you have your orders! This is not a simulation, but a real test to see if you can fulfill your duty to Cadmus and the Light. I don't care what it takes, but eliminate your target!" White Queen commanded before turning off the link leaving the nine year old to fight for her life._

_ The girls' fight lasted an hour. W.G.a begged and pleaded for C to stop and give up, but C was lost to her godly rage. She was destroying everything in sight trying to beat the living essences out of her. C pinned W.G.A to the ground and was attempting rip her arms out so she would bleed to death when W.G.A shatter her knee caps with a well placed kicks. She flipped the girl over her shoulder breaking her arms. C continued to thrash and was starting to glow. Not waiting to see what this was W.G.a wrapped her hands around C in a deadly choke hold. Five minutes later C was dead and her blood was all over W.G. a's hands._

_ W.G.a barely heard anything that happened next as White Queen entered congratulating her on a job well done. She watched through blurry eyes as her sister's body was taken away to be studied. It was at that moment she started to doubt Cadmus intentions."_

Superboy blinked his eyes, his mind still wheeling from what he had witnessed. He thought Cadmus had hurt him, but this was worse. Her horrors were worse. "I'm sorry for what you had to be put through. It must have been horrible going through that alone."

"It's okay; I learned to deal with it along time ago. Anyways I have all of Wonder Woman's powers, inhuman strength, speed, agility, and durability. I just started flying, well levitating, a few weeks ago, but I have a talent that she doesn't have. I can create three d models of battle scenarios in my mind, playing out every scenario to find the most strategic and tactical one. Good because it's what I was created for."

"My turn and then you Kr I suppose. As W.G.a said, I'm a eugenics Project. It was simple to obtain a sample of Batman's blood considering how he leaves it all over Gotham. They were originally going to reduce the DNA to fifty percent and cleanse the rest of the pattern, but their sample was tainted and they were on time crunch. So they scanned for a blood and personality type that would be compatible with Batman through the Red Cross database. They found a woman by the name of Mary McGinnis who fit their parameters. She was very similar to Batman's family, worked at a government office in Gotham and their DNA analysis reveled no genetic abnormalities. After cleansing the blood and working to improve it, they combined the blood samples as one and well nine months later I was born."

"From an early age my Handler Thinker groomed me for my role. I was to be a great detective and perfect advisor for our team. I was solving crimes all over the globe by the time I was five. Giving advice to government officials at age six. It was during one of my first investigations that I started to doubt Cadmus. I had through exhaustive research and investigation, determined that a small village in South Africa had developed a resistance to the AIDS virus. Not only that those who were resistant seemed to be triggering metahumans genes. I was unsure if the environment, genes, or a combination of both was responsible. I advised creating an alliance and improving their lives so we could have free access to study them. Unfortunately my rhetoric failed because it wasn't cost effective to help the village out and leave them alive. I was forced to advice the destruction/kidnapping of villagers. The place was leveled and turned into an outpost and the villagers experimented on perished, but we had their genes. Sold them to a pharmacy company earning millions."

"Anyways it stuck with me. Now I may not have special powers, but Handlers Thinker and White Knight Jagger have pushed me to the edge. I'm a second level _aluro_ (student) of capoeira. I hold several degrees in forensics and criminology, with a minor computers and tech development. I have an IQ of 145 nearly Einstein level and growing. I also have a near perfect memory. I can recall almost every moment since I was three. Plus, in here I have something in here to help even the odds."

"So Handlers are the ones who teach and train you to use your powers and whatever role assigned to you. They're responsible for your safety. That would make Desmond mine."

"No, not yours you didn't have one considering your Project wasn't completed. You were originally scheduled to leave when you turned eighteen so to speak. After that you would have been assigned a Handler with the capability of bringing out your potential. Desmond was not a candidate for you although he wanted to be for obvious prestige. The Board of Light would have found someone either legal or illegal to work with you. That's why he suppressed the memory I guess pure jealousy," W.G.a explained.

"You asked why you're our leader when chronologically you're younger then us, but biologically you're older? Simple, your powers for one thing make you stronger then any of us. There's also the bloodline showing the potential for greatness and how the public responds to that. Not to mention your experience with working with a team and how responsible you are. There are a dozen reasons why and as soon you were released and had your implant installed who knows what would have occurred if you hadn't escaped."

Superboy paused mid bite into his fries. He was wondering about those strange devices in on their heads and why they kept grimacing in pain. He used his X-ray vision and looked into their minds promptly feeling sick. Wrapped around the stem and nearby parts of the brain was a black crystal shape blinking piece of technology with tendrils inserted into the brain matter sending signals. He quickly looked at a mirror on the kitchen door to see if he had one in his head, but there was nothing. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. "What is that?"

"Shush! You're drawing attention!" Beyond hissed. He quickly hid the computer as Millie approached the table.

"Trouble kids? Do you need something?" Millie asked.

"Could we have another burger please?"

"Sure I'll get another one for each of you."

"Sorry, but what is that in your brain? Is _it _the reason for the strange headgear?" Superboy asked. Millie came back with a fresh burger and fries. He took a few bites he used his ears to make sure no one was paying attention before he indicated it was safe to continue. Beyond brought out his computer and showed him a file on the device.

"It's called a cybernetic implant. If the ink is our id this is our collar, the way they keep us under control. The device has several uses. It can upload information directly from our memories or dreams or download in reverse to help us in missions. It has GPS marker inside to keep track of us. They can give directly stimulate parts of our brains to help us in a fight or learning something new. Yet this thing is a ticking time bomb. They can remotely activate it to stun us, punish us even put us into a coma or kill us if we turn rouge. Each Project has them implanted when they're six; I think they wanted to err on side of prudence with you considering your importance."

"How could you let them do this to you? Why haven't you removed them yet?"

"Kr, what were we suppose to do? We couldn't say no to them! Do you think we want them in our heads? I designed these things thinking they be used with the genomorphs not us! Cadmus thought it was the perfect solution to ensure loyalty."

"Beyond settle down its okay. Kr, the jammers are the only reason we were able to escape. They block the transmissions keeping us safe, but we don't know for how long. Because of the delicate nature and placement of the device we were hoping to find an expert in the League could remove them."

"We are _not _calling the League. I know exactly how they would react to seeing you two. The same way my _father_ treats me. If Batman and Wonder Woman don't ignore you or push you away, they'll experiment on you! My friends might help you, but they put to much faith in their mentors. No right now we can't trust them. Not until we get those things out of your head."

The two of them looked shocked by his emotional outburst. They had assumed Superboy was living with a beloved father who cared about him. That his friends would support whatever choice he made. Now they weren't so sure. Everything in the real world was confusing them.

"We don't understand Kr, how could your father not love you? Shouldn't he be proud to have you on the Young Justice team? Or carrying on the Kryptonian legacy?"

"Is this because he was upset to find out your hybrid clone instead of a full one?"

Superboy's eyebrows went straight into his hairline. His whole body tingled. He had been told believed he was a perfect clone of Superman and now he found out he wasn't. He couldn't even breathe or think. Beyond slid his computer over to him so he could read _his _file.

"There have been many attempts to clone Superman that failed because of the uniqueness of Kryptonian cells. The RSS hurts you and Superman because it forces your cells to revert to their original nature cutting off the absorption and conversion of yellow solar energy into transmutable bioenergy that gives you your powers. Attempts to replicate this natural process have failed due to environmental conditions or radiated samples. The solution to stabilize the DNA code and replace what's been missing is simple. Add human DNA to the mix. Your DNA is 80% Superman and 20% human. Whose I don't know because it's not in your file."

"It could be male or female with the technology Cadmus possesses, but being part human isn't all bad. Your immunity is resistant to both space born allergens and earth diseases. Plus, you could manifest unique powers all your own."

"I'm not a complete clone of Superman? I don't know what to think right now."

"Maybe we need to sleep on it. Its getting late and if were going to make a decision about our next move we need rest. We'll get some food to go and find a place to sleep. In the morning we'll start on our journey okay Kr?"

"My name isn't Kr and yours aren't W.G. a or Beyond. The first thing we do tomorrow before finding someone to remove those implants, is that the three of us are going to shed Cadmus forever. Starting now we don't belong to them," Superboy vowed. Millie and Dottie were happy to direct the trio to a motel run by a friend named Joe a few miles down the road and had to be forced to take their tip. A friend of Dottie's dropped them off at the motel and the three crashed for the night in real beds. For the first time in four days the duo felt safe. Superboy made sure the room was secured before drifting off to sleep. He was going to protect his family with his life.

The next morning trio hiked the three miles to a small thrift store in a nearby town. Dottie had mentioned that her friend Julia ran the store along with the halfway home for reforming drug addicts and prostitutes. Superboy had trepidation bring the duo there, but Beyond urged him saying they were dependent on the kindness of strangers to aid them and right now it was working.

"Julia's Second Chance Thrift Store and Safe Home. A place where new beginnings are made with each sunrise," W.G. a quoted the sign outside the store. She gazed thoughtfully over at the safe house where men and women were maintaining the grounds and talking with councilors. The people seemed to be friendly and didn't bat an eye as the trio walked into the store.

The inside smelled a pleasant mix between old oak and mothballs. Shelves filled with old clothes, books, jewelry and toys lined the walls. Staff were sorting through donations and counting the money. The few customers there gave the trio a few weird looks, but went back to what they were doing.

"We shouldn't be here. Too many witness and the security cameras. I think we just run for it."

"That would be a mistake young man," a pleasant and tired voice said. The trio looked up to see older women with dark ringlets and kind brown eyes approached the group. She took one look at the trio and shook her head. "I've heard of children running away from abusive foster homes, but never wearing such strange garments. I don't think I'll be able to sell them. I'm Julia by the way. Dottie called to tell me a trio of siblings on the run would be showing up at my store. So you want to tell me what you're running from?"

"Depends are you going to call what is it social services on us?" W.G. a inquired. She saw Beyond and Kr tense waiting for an answer. They couldn't afford any police involvement.

"No, I'm not. Dottie wasn't exactly clear about what happened to you three, but she figured to you had to have a good reason for running and acting the way you did. All of us here have had a second chance because someone didn't care about our past only providing a safe future. So I'm here to get you what you need to start new with your life. Before we begin you have names or am I just suppose to keep calling you kids?"

"Our former guardians didn't really give us names. None that we can use," Beyond admitted.

"That's okay this place is all about starting over brand new. Amber! Tanya come over here and help me. These are the kids need some help picking out some new wardrobe, shoes, coats, jewelry hats, the works. Don't forget to find them big comfortable backpacks. Help them pick out some names and print out some IDs for the kids. We'll haggle over price later. Let's go ladies."

The next hour and half was spent creating new identities for each of them. It surprised the trio that women who had been mostly forgotten or given up on by the superhero community would be so helpful to complete strangers, but as the ladies explained sometimes mere mortals were needed to be heroes. Secretly they vowed to try and be as kind as their saviors.

"Watch it! That hurts!" Beyond whined, as Tanya tugged some new shoes on. He was still clutching the duffle, but Tanya had provided him with a key lock to keep it safe.

"For such a serious little boy you are acting very immature. Don't worry that we're going to hurt you. I don't know who hurt you in the past, but we can help you. What's so fascinating on your computer that you keep checking it?" Tanya asked, as she trimmed his scruffy hair.

"I'm looking for someone who can help me and my sister. Our guardians did something that hurt us and well,"

"You don't have to tell me. I remember not trusting others especially doctors for the longest time. One of them hurt me badly and got me addicted, but thanks to Julia I'm better now. I'm putting the rest of your outfits in your pack, along with a watch. Your coat's hanging on the chair over there. Have you decided on a new name?"

"Yes, but I want to share it along with my news with my siblings."

In another room Amber was helping out W.G.a. After having the girl shower and cut a few inches off her braid she threaded red, blue, and gold extensions into the braid and showed her how to use makeup to disguise herself by darkening her skin with foundation. She then got her ears pierced and was now settling on her new wardrobe. Amber helped her into a new outfit. "You seem troubled young one. It can't be easy being the peace keeper and hope for your family."

"I don't know what you mean. I just make sure that my little brother is safe and that Kr I mean my older one believes in himself."

"A difficult task for any child, but one whose heart is pained by death it makes it harder. Don't be surprised I know the haunted look of someone who's seen death. I watched my mom kill herself on drugs and my dad was completely absent. I ran from my abusive foster parents and I would have stayed on the streets being pimped if Julia didn't find me and help me. You are stronger then you're past. So you have a new name to go with your new look?"

"Yes, let's go show my brothers."

Julia was helping Superboy out. She knew there was more to the trio then appeared, but had vowed never to ask about anyone's past, just concentrate on their second chance at life. The boy seemed anxious worried someone would come after him and his siblings. "Don't you fret I promise if anyone comes asking about you none of will tell a soul about you three."

"What about if they threaten you or try to kill you? What's to stop you from telling them about us?" Superboy asked as Julia fitted a leather jacket around him and handed him some fingerless gloves. He watched curiously as Julia finished packing his bag with clothes, food, and blanket.

"Not even then, let me tell you something boy. I had a horrible life growing up. I was treated badly by a lot of people, including myself, selling my body to earn a living. I was in and out of jail so much I should have set up house there. I nearly lost my life when a John attacked me. Then when I was serving my latest stint two woman, angels I called them, took me and a bunch of others like myself and brought here. It was tough and I almost fell off the program several times, but through a lot of prayer and support I made. I found a new lease on life and vowed to do the same for anyone who needed a second chance. I've helped abused kids before. You and your siblings are no different."

"Except they have people who might love them, while my father has given up on me before I got a _first chance._ I'm so pissed and angry. I have friends and I love what I do, but it's not the same and now I have to take care of them I'm just not sure."

"Keep trying with your dad, even if it seems hopeless. He might surprise you. Now come on your siblings are waiting and I'm eager to see what they decided to call themselves."

W.G.a and Beyond were waiting outside with Amber and Tanya for Julia and Superboy. W.G.a had traded in her outfit for long sleeve scoop neck blue shirt with a picture of an owl on it, red jacket, and khaki jeans along with running shoes. She had studs in her ears and simple gold chain around her neck. Her large pack was red with blue stars with Wonder Woman's symbol on it along with a Tinkerbelle purse. Beyond was wearing sneakers, socks, faded blue jeans and black shirt, with a brown jacket. His accessories included tinted sunglasses and silver watch. His pack was amusingly a Batman one along with his duffel. They both looked up and smiled when they saw Kr.

He was dressed a bit more casual with flannel shirt and brown pants, but his boots, jacket, and gloves screamed rebel. He had a Superman knapsack and slipped on some old fake glasses getting a laugh from the girls. Julia handed each of them a new ID. "So you three have new names and a plan for the future?"

"Yes, my name is Athena T. Prince."

"I'm Terrence McGinnis Wayne or Terry for short."

"I'm Connor Kent."

"Good strong names full of meaning. Athena, use your wisdom to keep the family safe. Terry, be smooth and slick when trusting people. Connor, you're to be praised for protecting your siblings. So do you know where you're going?"

Beyond, no Terry, looked at Connor waiting for approval before he spoke. "The people who hurt us, they have connections in almost every legal and illegal cooperation. Going to a special lab is the equivalent of waving our white flag. My research shows this man, Dr. Stone and his wife, are freelance physicist and cybernetic experts who have been offered a chance to join STAR labs, but presently don't belong to them. They live in a suburb of Metropolis thirty miles away."

"Metropolis is miles from here in another state. How do you expect us to get there without being seen?" Athena questioned.

"Are you positive he's the only one who can help two out? Can he be trusted not to turn us over?" Connor demanded.

"He's are only chance, unless you want to go back to Cadmus."

"Children, I have a friend Rhonda who drives a bus that way. You can get a discounted ride to where you're going and she'll make sure no one bothers you. In fact you better get going her bus leaves in half an hour from the terminal."

"Thank you, for all your help. Here please accept this money, we insist, so you can continue doing good work. You know the people who hurt us they'll send a team to look for us."

"Let them come no one is saying anything here and that includes back at the diner and motel you slept at last night. The kindness of strangers is well known around this town. That's why it's called Benevolence, Rhode Island. Get going you three and be careful who you trust," Julia told them. The three kids nodded and took off knowing that right now all they could trust was each other.


	4. Tracks

Back at Mount Justice, Red Tornado had been spending the last two days analyzing the components the team had brought back. The droids were an amazing, a technological marvel that shouldn't exist; yet they did. He had attempted to extrapolate its memory to find out what the droids were searching for, but the core had been erased thoroughly. He was just running one last diagnostic when Young Justice, minus Superboy, entered the lab. They all appeared to be very apprehensive about droids, or possibly they were worried about their teammate who still hadn't returned.

"Red Tornado what have you discovered about the components? Did you figure out who built them?" Aqualad inquired.

"The droids themselves were not built by one person per se. Analysis shows that three different designs were melded into one to create these droids. The strange part is, that this blending of technology shouldn't be possible, due the different operating systems and materials used in construction. The components themselves don't work well with one another usually; however in this case someone's compensated for the irregularities."

"Freaky. So um, what were the three types used in creating these droids?" Kid Flash questioned, examining the scattered pieces on the table. He was a science geek, but this was to advance even for him.

Red Tornado keyed in the data and on the screen appeared slides of different groups of droid parts. He highlighted one and zoomed in showing them the internal circuitry and different defensive parts. "The first slide contains parts similar to Professor Ivo designs. The circuitries, along with much of its defensive systems, are based heavily on his Amazodroid design within certain restrictions. They don't seem to be able to replicate powers of beings, but they do manage to adapt and create counter measures."

"That would explain how they adapted to our attacks so quickly. What about the offence array of weapons. They were unlike anything I've encountered on Earth before," Miss Martian stated.

Red Tornado highlighted those parts along with several pieces of building materials. "Much of the outer systems are constructed of a rare tritanium metal and the weapons design is reminiscence of robots used by the mercenary Deathstroke known as Sladebots. These weapons are designed to make quick and clean kills all while avoiding damage to themselves. Careful observation has shown to me that the offence systems have multiple backups should one weapon system be destroyed."

"What about the last slide? What does that control?" Artemis asked tensely. The droids were getting more dangerous by the second. She hoped Superboy hadn't run into trouble looking for their operator.

"The AI matrix and core components are of the OMEAC design used by a top secret agency; G.A. Much of the internal shielding and programming were based on their Brother Eye satellite design. The AI is the most advance on the planet, nearly impossible to defeat. The core components contained an unknown power source running the entire droid with three backups systems. I believe it is this system that would explain the droids ability to fuse as one."

Robin let out a whistle, he was ficially impressed. Whoever designed these robots, were clearly the work of a sophisticated and dangerous mind. There were questions still to be answered. "Where you able to recover its memory and find out who sent them or what they wanted? Track down who bought them through serial numbers on the parts? Why did they go after Superboy with a needle of all things?"

"Sadly, the memory was permanently erased by use of this device I found attached to the matrix, during the examination," Red Tornado said showing them a small silvery disk. The group each took a turn examing the device wondering what it was. "It appears to be an EM pulse generator designed to unleash multiple pulses at multiple frequencies in a span of five seconds. Not only did it erase the memory core itself, it managed to irredeemably damage the AI matrix making these droids unable to be reactivated. Inquirer, did one of you use this device to stop the droids?"

"No, none of us have anything like this."

"As for tracking the serial numbers, all the pieces have stripped of any form of identification. Even using chemical analysis has failed to provide us with a way to track the manufacture or buyer of the parts."

"Rats!"

"I wonder if those mysterious people we chased used the device on the droid."

"But if they did, why didn't they show themselves and what were they even doing there in the first place?"

"Inquiry. Your mission report doesn't contain any information about unknown individuals in the vicinity when you were attacking the droids. Please explain this anomaly."

"It was after the droids had been defeated, that Superboy heard movement in the surrounding area. We saw the outline of a pair individuals running away and pursued them. Robin and Artemis's search turned up nothing, but Superboy reported that he was still pursuing his target when we last contacted him. That was nearly three days ago and we haven't heard anything from him," Aqualad explained. "We are getting concerned. We attempted to locate him, but he's turned off his communicator. Miss Martian attempted to locate him telepathically, but he's out of range."

"Those droids attempted to capture him using a needle. It was destroyed in the battle, but if one of their purposes was to retrieve Superboy what if Cadmus sent them? What if all the stuff going on was just a way to lure out Superboy and jump him?" Miss Martian fretted.

"They've had plenty of opportunities to do just that over the last four months, so why would they try to retrieve him now? Besides, I thought Cadmus was more into genetics then robots. Something else's is going on. Whatever is going on we need to locate Superboy and make sure he's okay," Artemis said.

"Agreed; return to the site and track down Superboy. We need to assess if he's alright and if managed to track down the individuals who assisted you against the droids. I will attempt to contact the Batman and the rest of the League about the situation. I will continue with my efforts to find out more about who sent these droids. Perhaps I can even manage to recover some of its data."

The team nodded and headed back to the bioship. They quickly strapped in and headed back to the gully where they fought the droids. Thoughts about their missing friend filled their heads. Kid Flash decided to voice his thoughts hoping to put their minds at ease. "Hey, there's no need to be worried about Superboy. He's the most powerful teen there is on the planet! He's gotten out of worse scraps before. If Cadmus is involved somehow, he wouldn't let them take him away from us. I'm sure he's just busy tracking down those individuals."

"What if he's not? What if something really bad happened to him?"

"We'll find him Miss M. Kid's right, there's no reason to be apprehensive. We'll investigate the area and find where he is in no time," Robin assured her, but secretly he was wondering _why_ Superboy had gone rouge. Was this the first step in him turning against the team? Wherever he was at the moment, he hoped he was okay.

At the moment, Superboy no Connor, had his arms wrapped protectively around Terry, whose head was resting in his lap and Athena's head was on his shoulder. They had been riding the bus for hours only having to take one detour because of the droids actions destroying part of the highway. Many passengers had grumbled, but Rhonda wouldn't have it telling them to be thankful to be alive.

Rhonda had made sure to sit the kids up front right where she could keep an eye of them, but made sure they were in the camera's blind spot so they couldn't be recorded. She had provided snacks for the teens and blankets so they could get some rest. She smiled at how protective Connor was over his siblings. "We'll be nearing your stop in about half hour, you might want to wake them and eat something. The dispatcher says that most of the fighting has been contained by the League. You shouldn't have to worry about any action coming your way. Not that you couldn't handle it I'm sure," she said giving him a wink.

Connor chuckled nervously, he knew Rhonda didn't suspect him of being a superhero, but she knew he was a special teen to be on the run with his siblings. "I'm glad you have such confidence in my abilities. I have to admit that I've never encountered people such as yourself and the other citizens of Benevolence in my lifetime."

"Well, Benevolence is a special town full of special people, who are more then willing to go out of their way and help people. Sometimes the greatest hero is the one willing to stand up and give a helping hand to others. I'll let you know when we reach your destination."

"Thank you, Athena, Terry, wake up. Come on wake up." Connor said gently shaking them. Terry sleepily opened his eyes, but Athena's were scrunched up and she was whimpering. Her face was contorted in pain. "No, no, stop." She started thrashing in her seat, nearly falling out.

"Athena, wake up! What's wrong with her?"

"She's stuck in nightmare again fighting Cassie. You really have to shake to wake her up before she starts swinging," Terry advised. He had witnessed a similar situation before and had no desire to repeat the incident.

"Athena wake up!"

"Ugh, ah ugh ow, thanks Connor, it was really bad. Ow, my head is still hurting."

"The jammers are starting to fail and the implants are bleeding signals through. I'm scrambling them best I can, but it won't do much good if they fail completely. We need to get the implants out of our heads and soon. Ugh."

"How do you expect this Dr. Stone to operate on either of you? It's not like anyone outside of Cadmus knows about the technology."

"Beyond, I mean Terry, designed them and the procedure for putting them in our heads. It wasn't that hard for him to come up with a way to remove them, but it will be a very delicate procedure."

"Kids, we've arrived," Rhonda told them as she pulled the bus to the side of a long narrow road leading to a large complex. "You'll have to walk the rest of the way, be careful now and I wish you luck. Don't hesitate to call me if you ever need a lift somewhere else okay?" The young woman handed them her bus medallion number so the trio could contact her again. The trio nodded and thanked her waving good bye as the bus disappeared down the bend. Connor put Terry on his back and the three took off down the lane hoping that Dr. Stone would be able to help.

In Metropolis, the League was taking a breather seeing as how they finally managed to round up most of the villains. The police had managed to get them all back in jail and the reserves were getting treatment. Reports were coming in, as more villains simply gave up or vanished. It appeared that the tide of villainy was over. Superman was pleased that his beloved home was safe again.

"We've managed to capture Metallo and Parasite without any trouble. Bizzaro was hard to pin down, but we've finally managed to get him back. Livewire was just contained. I'm unease about this Kal. These villains were fighting as if they were in the Trojan War. Why would they cause all this trouble and then just allow themselves to be captured. I sense great deception going on."

"I'm not sure Diana, but I do know that whatever is going on is bigger then we ever imagined."

"Diana! Clark! I just received a report from Captain Marvel. Red Tornado gave him a report about the droids. Apparently someone used parts from three different types and merge them together," Batman said racing over to them. The rest of the League joined him as he explained everything Red Tornado had found. He also updated them on the status that the droids had simply vanished from sight. "Red Tornado believes a recall protocol was activated when Young Justice apprehended the parts. Whoever, was in control of them. didn't want to take a chance that we trace them back to them. That's not the only problem."

"What, did something worse then supervillians and killer robots show up?" Hal/GL asked. He, along with all present company, were bone tired and in need of some rest.

"Superboy is missing. He went to investigate the possibility of individuals in the area controlling the robots. He gave a short report and hasn't been heard from in almost three days. Young Justice is investigating the area in hopes of finding clues, but it appears he might have just vanished or been captured."

"We should go and assist. If Superboy's been captured then we need to make sure that no one uses him against us," Hawkwoman said, voicing their hidden fears out loud.

The others nodded, but Superman was against it. More reports were coming in. It seemed that the villains had caused ruckus during transfer and now were converging on new locations causing more problems. The League would have to deal with that first and then search for Superboy. Hopefully Young Justice would be able to locate him and find out if he was safe and sound.

Young Justice had arrived back in the gully and already started searching for clues. Artemis and Robin tracked Superboy's trail to the meadow. The group was stunned by how torn up it was and the indentations in the terrain. Kid Flash let out a low whistle. "Man, it looks like Superboy was busy. Who do you think he was fighting and what happened to him?"

"Not sure Kid, but that's why we are here. Spread out and search for clues. Check under every rock and tree if you have to. If you find a clue holler so we can examine it together," Aqualad ordered. The group spread out across the meadow searching carefully for tell tale signs of what transpired here three days ago. Artemis was the first to find a clue near the edge of the meadow.

"Guys over here! I found some footprints!" she called out. Aqualad and Robin came over while Miss Martian and Kid Flash continued to search for evidence. "Its two distinct sets and judging by the size and impression I say they had to belong to kids, teens at the very least. The wear and composition of the prints leads me to believe they're three days old at least."

"She's right, look at the ones here. They match the ones I saw scattered across the meadow. These are narrow and lighter then Superboy's boots. Hmm my computer doesn't recognize the shoe brand, but I can tell from the style it's a girl's sandal. Hmm hold on a sec," Robin muttered scanning the print with his computer. He aimed his computer at the field overlaying the prints with Superboy's taking notice of something strange. "Okay this is strange. The girl's prints get deeper, but don't fray or get distorted, during the struggle with Superboy. It's almost as if she was able to take his attacks head on as an equal."

"Strange indeed, what about the second set of prints? Can you two tell me anything useful about them?"

"They're smaller and I can tell you just by looking at them they belong to a child, probably someone between the age of seven and ten. The style is unique not like any shoe I've ever seen," Artemis replied. The three followed the tracks into the meadow watching how they intercepted Superboy and certain points and disappeared only to reappear on the opposite side of the field. There was a cluster of prints where all three seem to be together with no signs of fighting.

"This is very peculiar indeed. There are signs all over this meadow telling us a story. It appears that Superboy caught up with the two individuals right as they were about to hit the tree line. Something about them set him off because the signs all point to him making the first move. The landscape tells a story. The girl appears to have been engaged with Superboy, attempting to fend him off if the scuff marks are any indication. See that line in the dirt over there? He pushed her until she fell, but she didn't attack him."

"Right, the kid did. The prints indicate he might have tried to restrain or distract Superboy, trying to keep him away. Those still prints over there indicate he was doing something to Superboy that held him off. But why did he allow them so close afterwards? There's no indication that the two captured him. It looks more like how they're clustered together that Superboy might have taken off with them."

"Aqualad, Artemis check it out. Something tells me this didn't come from Superboy," Robin said, showing the two of them an evidence bag. Inside the plastic bag was a thick, black hair. "It can't belong to Superboy it would take diamond tip scissor's, even to make a dent in his locks. When we get back to the bioship I'll see about running a DNA analysis. Let see if this hair belongs to any known criminals."

"Guys, I found blood over!" Kid Flash yelled. The team hurried over to where Kid was. He pulled out a cotton swab from his wrist compartment and started swabbing. "Its a couple days old, but it's recent. I used some chemicals and determined the protein compound belongs to humans. I think it might belong to one of the two individuals. We should run some tests on it to determine more."

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say Superboy tossed the person into the tree, if the missing bark is any indication. This just doesn't make sense. That device Red Tornado said stopped the droids had to have come from this group. We only caught a glimpse of them after the droids were stopped. They obviously wanted to confront Superboy, but they didn't attack him until after he made the first move. All signs point to Superboy voluntarily leaving with the duo. Something is really up with the guy."

"Agreed, we need to find out more. Miss Martian can you use your telepathy to pick up any residual psychic energy here? Perhaps you can tell us what Superboy was feeling and were the three of them went after the battle."

"I've never tried anything like that before. It's a very advance technique. It took years for my Uncle J'onn to master it."

"Come on beautiful do it for Superboy! If you can handle fighting for his mind in Bhalla you can do this for him!"

"Thanks Wally. I'll give it a try," Miss Martian said as she sat in midair in a yoga position. She started humming and the air around them prickled. Pressure increased and the team saw a faint outline of their missing team member and two others. Stress lines appeared on her forehead as she pushed forward trying to get more psychic energy to appear. Megan whimpered in pain before she let out a scream collapsing. The outlines and pressure vanished instantly, leaving the group no closer to finding out about their missing member

"Megan! Oh my God are you okay? We should get you back to the bioship right now!"

"Agreed, we can do further analysis when we get there. Kid I'm sure that Megan will be fine just give her sometime to recover. For now, we should contact Red Tornado and tell him what we found. Move out," Aqualad told the team. They headed back to the bioship, but he paused for a minute. He looked up at the sky concerned for his friend and whispered a prayer in Atlantician for his safe return.

At the moment Superboy was attempting to keep his temper under control. The three of them had been granted access to the Stones complex where they met the two scientists and their son Victor. They were all currently seated in the living room, as Beyond explained their position with W.G.a's help. Superboy used his super senses to make sure they were safe. The scientists were very surprised and intrigued by the Projects as they gave a careful explanation about whom they were and why they had come for their help. The computer and the display of the implant were years ahead of anything they had developed.

"As you can see from this holographic display the implant is attached to our stem and its tendrils are inserted into different lobe sections. Now this is a very risky surgery because of the situation. Almost all doctors wouldn't attempt to remove it, but they don't have my procedure. As long as you follow the steps exactly and neutralize the implant before the back ups activate we should be safe. It's a very delicate operation, but I'm confident in your abilities to keep us alive. I'm sure your wife and your assistant droids would be able to assist you Dr. Stone."

"You do realize I'm not a certified neurologist. I do have degrees in medicine and cybernetics, but from what I've seen so far, this technology is years ahead of what I've been developing in my labs. I don't know if I have the resources available here to remove the devices from your brains. Perhaps if we were to go to STAR labs or even the hospital…"

"No! We can't! We already explained to you how our enemies have their tendrils in almost every major lab. We took a big risk coming to you knowing that if you agreed to help us we'd be putting your lives at risk," Superboy stated tensely.

"What do you mean we're at risk? Look you three are the strangest kids I've ever met coming in with talks of secret government projects and sci fi technology, but now your telling us that we might die from just _talking _with you? That's completely wack yo!"

"Victor Stone behave yourself!" his mother scolded him.

"We're sorry about this really ugh, but we're in a desperate situation here. Ugh the cybernetic jammers are failing, due to the implants adaptability. We already know our position has bled through a few times and that Cadmus has probably sent a team after us. All the craziness going on in Metropolis and such is because of us. I feel guilty that so many people have been hurt, that heroes have had their homes attacked as a diversion, so the droids could find us, but I wouldn't trade mine or my brother's freedom for anything. We need your help please. We know you'd be risking your lives, but I truly believe that if you help us karma will smile on you."

"Karma is not exactly a concern of mine. Still, the chance to get a closer look at the devices would greatly help my research. I can already imagine ten ways to improve my cybernetics with the data I gleam from studying the remains of the implants."

"Dr. Stone, that wouldn't be possible. Normal procedure for containing information leaks is to terminate those who have leaked and received information related to our past. The best way to avoid them wanting you dead is to erase everything related to the implants, the jammers, even our medical reports. Also, to maximize your families' safety, we'll leave the minute we wake up."

"That isn't safe! Its dangerous for your health if you leave before you're medically cleared."

"It's the only way we can protect you. If you want us to leave we'll go right now."

"We've depended on the kindness of strangers up until now to keep us safe and we'll continue to do so. But I swear if you tell anyone about us I'll make you regret it! No one hurts my family."

"Threats aren't necessary young man, we'll be glad to help your siblings," Mrs. Stone said before her husband and son could protest. She gave them each the stink eye. "I don't want to hear it. Our ancestors traveled to freedom from slavery and oppression depending on the kindness of strangers. Their helpers asked for nothing in return except to live full and productive lives. Those conductors risked their own lives because it was the right thing to do. How can we not do the same?"

"You're right my dear, as always. Freedom is a gift that no one should have to pay a price for. Victor, activate the security system and keep an eye out for trouble. Superboy was it? Stay with him and assist. I know you want to be with your siblings, but they need you to protect them incase trouble shows up. Beyond, W.G.a I'm glad you put such faith and trust in me, but I warn you. The odds of my wife and I successfully removing the implants without causing damage to the brain are extremely low. You may not survive the procedure."

"As you stated before freedom is a gift. We'd rather die free then go back."

"Then let's get you prepped. We have long night ahead of us," Dr. Stone said.

Meanwhile in Benevolence, Rhode Island the staff and residences of the halfway house were glaring angrily as a group of four individuals as they tore apart the store and safe house. Julia lips were pursed in a scowl as she looked at the destroyed property. "I don't appreciate what you're doing here. I told you to leave my property and never come back. I'm not going to ask again."

"Not until we find what we're looking for love. We know the kids were here, their implants bled through here and their prints were found on the road leading here. If you just tell us what we want to know then we'll leave," the only woman in the group said.

"We don't know what you're talking about and even if we did we don't squeal," Amber replied hotly. "If you break it you buy it mister!" she told the man in blue as he searched through the shelves with a boomerang.

"Come on anyone can be bought especially addicts. How much do you guys want? We've got thousands here. Enough to score all the drugs and sex you would want," a man with a silver mask and red eye said pulling out the cash, but all of them turned away disgusted. "You got to be kidding me. You're addicts you have no will power."

"We're no longer addicts we have a second chance at life! Avoiding temptation like you scum is a measure of how far we've come," called out one of the members of the halfway house. Others voiced the same opinion. The citizens of Benevolence refused to give up any information on the trio.

The evil trio was about to start breaking bones and killing people when their leader cleared his throat. "Do you recall we're not authorized to eliminate civilians on this mission nor do you want to tack on more years to your sentence? I found a clue to our targets. Nice job erasing the tapes and hiding their clothes. I couldn't find them anywhere, but I did notice a call you made to the bus company. With a little research I've narrowed down the possibilities of where they're heading. I have to admit I'm impressed by the loyalty all of you have shown, but don't do it again. It might cost you your life. Task Force X, let's move out. We have projects to round up," Flag warned. With a nod Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and Plastique exited the store and got into their car. Julia and the others let out a sigh of relief and started praying for the kids' safety.


	5. Trio VS TFX

The black four-door town car cruised down the Interstate at a steady pace; the tinted windows hid the four passengers in the back. The four of them were sipping cold cokes and munching on veggies and dip. Task Force X was enjoying their freedom from Federal lockup. Each member had been behind bars, never to see the outside world again until they were called into action, as the US government's super secret strike team. They were so secret that legally they didn't exist as a unit.

"I could get use to missions like this. Not only do we get all our old gear back, but were getting paid millions for a simple retrieval mission, all while riding around in comfort and style," Deadshot stated, as he cleaned his scope on his high power stealth rifle. He'd personally checked to make sure none of his stock had been tampered with.

"I'm more interested in the fifteen to twenty years hacked off my sentence love. The sooner we complete the mission the sooner I can get my pardon and say good bye to my cell," Plastique snorted. The metahuman female was counting the days until she would never have to worry about being imprisoned again.

"Yeah, how hard can it be to capture a bunch of kids, even if two of them have powers and the third is just a freaky genius? This is barely even worth our time and efforts," Captain Boomerang said, tugging his costume on. His old uniform fit so much nicer then those disgusting prison drags.

"None of you should be treating this mission so lightly. We wouldn't have been called in to deal with a bunch of runaways kids if it wasn't important, a matter of national security even. This mission is top priority and I want us to be on our best behavior. An incoming transmission from our employers is about to connect. They have vital data on the targets as well as a drop off point. Keep your ears and eyes open people. This could make or break our success. Driver privacy, alright lower the lights. Let's here what our employees have to say," Flagg said, putting his gun back in its grip and sat back as three d hologram appeared.

"Greetings Task Force X, my name is White Knight and these are my companions White Queen and Thinker. We work for Cadmus and in turn the Board of Light. Four nights ago two of our Projects, W.G.a and Batman Beyond, escaped from our facility despite our best efforts to keep them contained. A contingency plan was initiated to keep the League from finding out about the missing Projects through some favors. We were forced to recall our Omega droids after the Young Justice team managed to defeat them. It was during this encounter that the two Projects met up with another Project, Projects Kr."

"Projects Kr had been freed previously, due to incompetence of a former colleague and had been under the protection of the League, making it difficult to recapture him. We have reason to believe that the three of them are on the run, attempting to divest of cybernetic technology inside their heads. We've have determined the Projects most likely position. By the time you reach the area we believe them to be in, the implants will be removed and the kids will be on the run once more. It will be your responsibility to capture them alive and bring them to the secondary facility for medical evaluation," Thinker told the group.

"To assist you in the capture, we've provide their files to give you an edge on them. Don't underestimate these children. They have been trained by the best and have shown a real knack for resourceful and creative thinking. If push comes to shove they will do anything to avoid capture. We still don't know the full extent of their abilities. Since Checkmate is currently occupied with other missions, it's up to you to reclaim Cadmus lost property. Avoid the loss of any life and exposure. The League must not find out about the two new Projects at all costs. Plastique, your talents will be best used against W.G.a. I've trained the girl her whole life to expect the unexpected so be on your guard. Captain Boomerang, your target is Beyond. Don't be fooled by his child body, his intellect and aim are his greatest weapons. Flagg, you and Deadshot, both will handle Superboy. I don't have to tell you how hard it is to contain a Kryptonian, especially a dangerous teenager," White Queen warned the group.

"Don't worry your pretty little head. We'll get your kids back with minimal injuries and loss of life no sweat love. Consider your problem solved."

"You better or the Light will make sure that any years off you've earned will be tacked on to an additional twenty years. Read the files and contact us when you reach the rendezvous point. White Queen out." The screen went blank and three folders popped out of the council. The group each took a folder and started scanning. It contained the usual stuff; pictures, health and progress reports, data charts, but it was the main page that got their attention.

Plastique examined the picture of the girl she was supposed to capture. She looked exactly like Wonder Bitch, except for the eyes and hair style. It shocked her the girl was only fourteen years old.

_Projects W.G.a Profile and Stats. Primary Purpose: To kill and replace Wonder Woman. Secondary Purpose: Master Strategist and Tactician. Type of Project: Project W.G.a is 1 of 4 genetic breeding Projects. Genetic Donors: Genetic samples acquired from Wonder Woman. Projects A's male donor is philanthropist/human activist Tyson Bay of Boston Massachusetts. (Can use DNA to have access to funds legally). Projects B-D different donors and growth methods; see their profiles. Growth and Development: Incubated in biopod for nine months same as Projects C. Note Projects B and D terminated for health reasons. Project W.G. a has been raised by primarily female caretakers her whole life. Taught at age 2 about Greek Gods, 2.5 Gods from African, Asian, and Australian. Age 3 European, North and South American. Age 4 religions along with advanced education. Age 5 powers start to emerge. Age 7 intro to advance tactical and strategies. Age 9 terminated rouge Project C. Continue with Growth plan 1B and Health plan 3S. Handler: Former Soviet Operative and Doom Patrol Negative Woman, Valitina Vostok aka Checkmate White Queen. Has taught subject how to use her powers and extensive hand to hand combat training since age five. Reports the girl is showing signs of flight, but merely levitation for now. Beginning to introduce WW weaponry. Stats: W.G.a is an exceptional, clever, and brave taction having memorized almost every strategy in the world. Below par Amazon strength (75 tons) speed, stamina and agility along with above human durability. Very empathetic and can create three d models of battles in her mind almost always ensuring victory. Flight is emerging. Weakness: Little to know male experience. Loses a decree of power when bound, faster if a male does it, hesitant to deliver the killing blow. Comments: W.G. a is the world's leading expert in strategy willing to do whatever it takes to win. Loyal, brave with stead fast determination she won't back down from a mission. Integration with the rest of Projects Hero Light should start with Projects Batman Beyond._

Plastique let out a whistle and nearly lost control of build up of explosive energy she'd unknowingly been creating. She quickly dismissed the energy. "This girl is one rare diamond in the rough, but I think I can handle her no problem. What about the rest of you blokes? How did you luck out mates?"

"Project Beyond is no mere child. I think you should hear for yourselves what I'm against. This isn't your average kid that Cadmus created, not by any means," Captain Boomerang replied, as he started reading the cover page out loud.

_Project Batman Beyond Profile and Stats. Primary Purpose: To kill and replace Batman. Secondary Purpose: Advisory capacity for Team Hero Light. Type of Project: Beyond is a eugenics Project. Genetic Donors: Original Batman sample deteriorate to fifty percent due to complications. Integrity maintained by finding suitable female DNA match. Mary McGinnis screened and profiled before grafting genetics together. Growth and Development: Incubated in biopod for nine months. Subject Beyond has been hyper stimulated since sixth months of age. Introduced to puzzles and detective literature age 14 months. Advanced Reading comprehension by age 2, applied science and mathematics age 2.5. Advance computer course age 3 and cultural, news, and advance courses since age 4. Advisory duties since five and League and hero monitoring age 5.5. Continue with Growth plan 2A and Health plan 5T. Handlers: Beyond has been given round the clock monitoring by Cadmus/Light scientists. Academic Trainer AI Thinker droid since 3 and has assisted Beyond in R & D as well as cover ups. Handler Tommy Jagger aka White Knight brought into develop physical abilities age 8. Stats: Beyond has an IQ of 145 and climbing, master level hacker, with full degrees in criminology, forensics, sociology and psychiatry with minors in government affairs. Has near perfect memory and has a gun accuracy of 400:500. Weakness: Is socially stunted and arrogant. Normal human weakness. Comments: Beyond is the perfect advisor/detective caring only for results. Is loyal, hardworking and responsible. Integration with the rest of Projects Hero Light should start with Projects W.G.a._

"Sounds like they weren't holding back anything when they created the perfect counter to Batman, but the kid is still ten years old and doubt he's packing heat. At least you have some decent information on your targets. What they have on ours isn't much. I mean listen to this," Deadshot said reading the file on Superboy.

_Project Kr Superboy Profile and Stats. Primary Purpose: To kill or replace Superman. Secondary Purpose: Leader and weapon for Team Hero Light. Type of Project: Kr is a force grown hybrid clone. Genetic Donors: DNA acquired from Superman and grafted onto human donor - for stability. Growth and Development: Force grown in biopod for sixteen weeks using growth hormones and scientific intervention to stabilize process. Solar suit introduced at 2 weeks to increase build up of transmutable solar energy for power development. Genomorph education begun at 3 weeks. Powers emerging at 4 weeks and introduction to teammates at 14 weeks. Project will emerge completely from biopod at eighteen weeks. Continue with Growth K2 and Health K1. Handler: Cadmus scientists and genomorphs until final selection has been made. Stats: Kr is a telepathically controlled weapon and in time will surpass Superman. Initially specific triggers needed to awaken powers and more time to develop to full potential. Weakness: All Kryptonian weakness to a lesser extent? Comments: Kr is the crowning achievement of Projects Hero Light. Both as weapon and leader he shall lead the Light to victory. Warning Projects Kr stolen!"_

"Hmm, it doesn't tell us what powers he has and doesn't have any stats on him considering they didn't have time to test him, but no matter. If we stick to the plan and work together I have doubt we'll succeed in capturing the golden trio ha ha ha!" Flagg laughed along with the others as they relaxed as they drove off to intercept the kids.

At the Stone's lab, Superboy was pacing nervously in the control center where their son Victor was monitoring the security system and news feeds for trouble. It had been four hours since the surgery started and he was growing more concerned about losing his siblings with each passing millisecond. "Do you think they'll be okay? We really should be in a hospital with tons of specialists, not two scientists and a couple of robot aids. They're going to die and it's going to be my entire fault!"

"Hey, would you relax already man! Dude I don't really understand everything that's happening, but you can trust my parents to make sure your sibs survive the surgery. They've never failed at something like this before."

"It must be nice to have such faith in your parents. My own father basically ignores me. I would like to have an unshakeable bond with him like I have with Athena and Terry, but that doesn't seem to be happening any time soon."

"Don't give up, no matter how angry you get with your dad. I know for me if my relationship was strained with my Dad I'd try to find a way to get back together with him eventually," Victor said, encouraging the super teen to make peace with his father.

"Thanks I'll try to remember that. Now I just need to come up with a plan for our next step after the two of them get out of surgery and wake up. It's not smart to stay in one place for long."

"You're really paranoid aren't you? Chill for a second would you dude."

Downstairs in the lab both Stones were working with a couple of robots on the delicate surgery. They had shaved a tiny patch of hair off the patients head pinning back the rest along with the flap of skin. Following Beyond's instructions, they were carefully unwrapping the implants tendrils and checking for damage to the neural tissue. So far there was none. The last step was to disconnect the implants from the stem and remove them; the most dangerous part of the procedure because it had to be done at the same time in both to avoid the reactivation.

"Careful you don't want to damage the stem. This is the most nerve wracking procedure I've ever done. Whoever did this is very skilled. I'm having a difficult time unwinding the main implant from the brain stem. I'm going to pinch back a tiny section of a tendril at a time," Dr. Stone monologue to his wife.

"Take your time and don't rush we can't afford to make mistakes. There lives hang in the balance. Okay I've managed to lift it off the stem now we just need to cut here and oh man were losing them! Defibulator 300 jolts now!" Mrs. Stone shouted, as she reached for the difibulator.

Both of them worked frantically to stabilize the hearts and keep the convulsions under control. The robots continued with the surgery methodically trying to get the devices out so they would stop causing problems. Finally they were stabilized and after another hour the implants were cut out of the heads. Dr. Stone was tempted to keep the implants, but his wife's look was enough to remind him of his promise to destroy them. Still there was one thing he could do with the implants before they were destroyed that helped the trio. As his wife wheeled the kids to recovery he went to tell their "sibling" about the outcome of the surgery.

Back with the Young Justice team, they were running their analysis on the samples they had found. Kid Flash was cradling Miss Martian in his lap protectively. She still hadn't woken up from her attempt to pick up psychic energies and he was starting to fear she never would. "Come on Megalicioius, wake up. Come back to me red head."

"Would you relax I'm sure Megan's fine. You're making me nauseated with all this concern."

"Hey, just because I happen to care about my teammate's health unlike you doesn't make me pathetic."

"I care about her too!"

"Yeah right, you're as cold as ice!"

"Why I ought to…"

"Enough both of you! Kid we're all worried about Megan, but right now we need to go over our evidence and track down Superboy's location. So the both of you please put aside your differences and help Robin with the analysis. I'm going to see if I can get this ship to fly without mental commands."

Kid Flash reluctantly put Megan down in the command chair and they went over the corner where the Boy Wonder was running a DNA check on the hair and blood samples they found. He was frowning confused as he typed a few commands into the bioship. But the results on the screen didn't change. It kept flashing the same message. "This is really starting to get strange."

"Now is not the time for your word play bro. What is it Rob? You figure out who the samples belong to?" Kid Flash asked. He looked at the Boy Wonder anxious to hear some good news

"Yeah what's got you so upset? You look like someone ate your pet or something," Artemis questioned the younger teen. She was very perplexed by what had been happening as of late.

"I wish. I was running standard tests on the samples. The genetic markers from the hair told me it came from a girl and the blood from a boy and as we suspected their human. I was trying to get a profile when this message came up declaring the DNA as level _eleven _quadruple encrypted government information secret. I've never seen anything like it before."

"Can you hack it? Determine who it belongs to and why it would warrant that kind of level of security?" Artemis questioned. She was surprised that DNA would have such a high level of security. That kind of clearance made it even inaccessible to the Justice League.

"I tried, but the more I hacked at it the more it resisted. I was afraid if I pushed it any further the bioship would get a virus."

"Sounds like someone wants to keep the any information pertaining to the individuals as secret as possible. Can we run a kinship test seeing who's related to the DNA? No? This is not adding up. The supervillians distracting the League, the robots searching for something and being destroyed, and Superboy's disappearance how is it all connected?"

"Ah watch out! Ugh my head," Miss Martian muttered. Everyone was at her side in an instant asking if she was okay. Startled she pushed them back before regaining her senses. "Sorry, you overwhelmed me."

"Megan how are you feeling? Is your head hurting? What happened to you?"

"I'm okay Wally, really, I just overloaded my brain. I told you that was an advance technique. I just wasn't prepared for how much residual energy there was. I went into a healing trance to try and recover."

"Were you able to pick up anything that could be useful to us? Can you tell us about the individuals that Superboy was with?"

"I can't tell you who they were, but I did sense they had a strong bond with him. The source of it was artificial, but at the same time it was very natural. I felt a strong and loving connection between the three of them. They trusted Superboy and the same with him. I felt emotions he's never shown us before. It's almost like he was feeling love towards them and not the romantic kind, the kind you share with siblings."

"Siblings? But the little big guy is the only one of his kind."

"If he's sharing a bond he must know them. Could they have come from Cadmus?"

"I don't know, but I do know that I can track his psychic signature now. Its faint, but I have a lock on it. We need to find him fast. I sense trouble coming his way."

Back at the Stones' Superboy was helping his friends change into some black sweatpants and hoodies. Cadmus Projects had amazing recovery time and after nearly an hour they were awake ready to go. Superboy was greatly agitated. "Come on we have to get going. I don't know what, but I picked up something with my superhearing. There are bad guys coming this way. We need to get out of here fast."

"You're not fully recovered! You need to stay here for at least two days before you can think about moving! Please stay we can protect you!" Mrs. Stone begged.

"We don't have that luxury if Superboy is detecting radio contact we're putting you at risk. Beside's we recover quickly," Beyond said getting the last of his clothes on.

"Thank you for your help, you've done more for us then we could ever hope."

"Take the tunnel it will lead you to the outskirts of the city undetected. We'll try to hold off any pursuers." Mrs. Stone told them. She was determined to give them that much if they wouldn't stay.

"Here, before I destroyed the implants I used some of the parts to make up this nanite mix. If you encounter others with implants you can inject them with this. It will dissolve the implants without the need for surgery. There should be no ill side effects Good luck," Dr. Stone told them pressing the mixture into Beyond's hands.

"Take care and don't worry about us. If someone messes with us we'll give them hell booyah!"

The kids thanked them and took off down the secret tunnel as fast as they could. Superboy could just imagine the Stones being interrogated and resisting until they either broke or were left alone. They had just exited the tunnel at old abandon factory. They were planning on disappearing into town to plot their next move when the sounds of whistling were heard. "Get down!" he yelled as their packs went flying into a nearby dumpster and the explosion rocked the ground. The trio got to their feet and looked with fear at Task Force X standing there looking at them with hunger in their eyes.

"Looks like we found our targets. You've led us on a merry chase, but now your fun is over. The three of you are coming with us whether you like it or not," Flagg said sneering at the trio. He had both a high powered taser and a gun leveled at the group. The other members of Task Force X also had their weapon of choice aimed at the group. "Do you really think you can beat us? We've never failed at a mission before!"

"Ugh, back off! You don't want to mess with us!" Superboy snarled clenching fists and his face contorted in anger. He could feel through his bond how fearful his siblings were. Beyond was attempting to get some equipment from his duffel that he managed to hold on to when Plastique made her move. The supervillianess build up a huge amount of explosive energy and hurled it at the trio. Superboy braced himself for impact ready to protect his siblings.

But W.G.a had other ideas shoving her brothers out of the way taking the brunt of the explosive force. She screamed as the energy scorched her slightly and she skidded backwards a little, but her durability protected her from any major damage. "I won't let you hurt them!" she shouted dropping into a protective stance.

"Not bad, but can you keep it up love?" Plastique question as she snapped her fingers sending a series of explosive volleys at the girl, who tried to avoid them or deflect them, which was hard to do without any enchanted bracelets. During the confusion W.G.a was caught off guard when she was struck in the side by Plastique who darted closer to her target. She had no time to counter as she was assaulted by the other female before an up close explosion sent her sailing into the abandon factory. "I've got this under control! Get the rest of them!"

"W.G.a! Hold on ah!" Beyond shouted, as he ducked as razor sharp blades came towards him. He managed to jump out of the way and use the RSS that was stuck in his back pocket as a bat to deflect some of the deadly weapons. Captain Boomerang started adding more boomerang's along with his trick blades into the mix overwhelming Beyond whose hoodie was shredded. He needed some distance and fast.

"Some genius you can't even figure out how to dodge!" the man chuckled, throwing a haymaker at the kid who somersaulted between his legs. He grabbed onto the duffel pulling as hard as he could on it, but Beyond used his capoeira skills to kick his right foot from under him causing the man to lose balance. Using the split second distraction he finally managed to unlock the duffel and pulled out a grappling gun. Captain Boomerang made a grab for him, but he twisted around him jumping onto a couple of garbage cans before scaling a small dividing wall. He fired the gun straight up into a tall tree. He ignored the projectiles coming at him as he climbed to a higher branch.

"Thank god for good genetics or I would fall from here," he whispered as he pulled out three proto-batarangs and two smoke bombs. He hugged the tree as more deadly projectiles struck his branch nearly shaking him out of the tree. He had to act fast or face splattering on the ground.

"You can't escape from me that easily kid! I'm coming after you no matter where you hold up mate!"

"You're not the only one who can hurl projectiles you Neanderthal!" Beyond retorted, taking careful aim and hurling one of his batarangs. This one was smaller, thinner, and sharper then Batman tinged with red instead of his black. His batarang sailed through the onslaught slicing the edges off the boomerangs, knocking the blades off course before cutting a thin razor line across the man's face and returning to Beyond's hand. The child smirked at his success.

Captain Boomerang looked at his damage weapons and touched the blood on his face which was turning red in anger. His eyes locked onto the kid at least three hundred and fifty feet up the tree with anger. "You're going to pay for that you little punk!" with such anger Beyond shivered in fear.

W.G.a was struggling in the factory against Plastique, secretly vowing if they got out of this she would never entrust her weapons to Beyond again right before a major fight. She levitated into the air behind some metal supports as more explosions took place. She saw in her mind the best way to defeat the explosion mistress, but she needed time. She ripped out the support and hurled it at Plastique.

Plastique blew it up causing more structures to rumble. The woman ignored them and kept firing at the girl who kept throwing pieces of metal at her which she dodged. "I know what your attempting love and its not going to work! I won't bring this place down on myself!"

"You think that's my only plan? Then let's see if you can handle me up close and personal!" W.G.a shouted dropping down from the sky trying to smash her with her foot, but Plastique grabbed her by the foot and swung her into the wall. She recovered and came at her fists swinging using every bit of training White Queen had taught her to land her hits and dodge. "I'm not letting you take me back!"

Plastique ducked under the kick and shot her own leg out before being spun midair. She landed on her hands pushing off and scissor kicking the girl in the head. She came after her again firing more explosions, which W.G.a dodged with grace. Growling with anger the woman changed her tactics going after the floor and beams near the girl trying to corner her so she could bind the girl.

Superboy was fighting with all his might against the two Task Force X members. His super senses were telling him that his siblings were in trouble and he was unable to help them as he was under assault from Flagg and Deadshot. He tried to ignore the course electricity through his body as Flagg tasered him. "That the best you can do?" he yelled ripping out the taser lines.

"Kid, you haven't seen us at our best. Give it to him Deadshot!" Flagg ordered. The mercenary nodded and fired a super high powerful thermal blaster at him. The energy was enough to shove him into a nearby concrete wall leaving an impression. He struggled to overcome it, but it was hard when a series of concussive grenades that brought the wall down on him.

"Careful Deadshot we need to bring him back alive! You're not ruining our chances to get twenty years off for killing the target!" Flagg snarled at his companion. The pile of concrete bricks blew apart and Superboy charged at the two men at super speed, ignoring the armor piercing bullets that were being shot at him. "A little help would be nice!"

"Oh now you want my help! I may not have any kryptonite, but I do have something just as good," Deadshot said firing his assault rifle and nearly tearing open Superboy's skin with the shrapnel bullets. They didn't stop him, but slowed him down considerably. "Your best option would be to surrender kid before we hurt you too badly. After all you're just not as good as Superman."

"I'm not going to give up! You're going to pay for attacking us!" Superboy snarled trying to catch his breath. He got ready to attack again when Flagg's cold voice stopped him in his tracks, "I wouldn't try anything not if you want to avoid harming your friends. Plastique! Captain Boomerang! Did you two take into custody your targets?"

"Yeah, this kid is one tough cookie, he won't stop squirming even after I caught him," Captain Boomerang complained as adjusted his grip on the squirming ten year old. Beyond hands were cuffed behind him and Captain Boomerang had a grip on his duffel bag. Plastique was dragging a bound and struggling W.G.a, who had real fear in her eyes matching some of her injuries. "The girl nearly had me, but one last blast caught her off guard. Have you nailed the Kryptonian yet? We have a schedule to keep."

"Co I mean Kr, Superboy help us!" the two of them shouted, pleading for their big brother to save them.

"Pipe down you two brats!" A resounding smack was heard as the Projects were struck on the faces leaving bruises. That did it! No one hurt his brother and sister like that and survived. He didn't know how or why, but he felt a surge of energy building up in his eyes and let loose several blasts of heat vision blasting the captives all the way through one dilapidated building and partially through the next. He took off after them with super speed determine to make them pay.

Beyond squirmed and wiggled until he was back on his feet. He jumped over his hands so they were in front of him. He found his duffel and dug through until he found his tools. With in a few seconds he was free and he raced over to free W.G.a. Her powers were slowly returning to full strength and soon she was able to rip the cuffs off. "Thanks, we need to help him before he runs out of steam. You got the smoke bombs?"

"Yeah and the antidote. You have a plan?"

"Just follow my lead!" W.G.a ripped up a half buried barbed fence and took off. Superboy was trying to blast and hit them while the TFX tried to blast him to pieces. She wound up and threw the barbed fence on top of them getting them tangled. Beyond moved in and hurled his smoke bombs blinding them while forcing the antidote down his big brother's throat. Soon the group was paralyzed and unable to move. Superboy darted in grabbing their cuffs and speedily criss crossing the cuffs while Beyond bound their legs with his ripped grappling line. W.G.a recovered their packs and gagged them tightly with some scarves she had picked up from the thrift store. When they could move again in about a day or two they would have a difficult time leaving.

Before they left Beyond noticed that Flagg was carrying a Cadmus drive. He snatched it and after making sure it couldn't harm his computer downloaded the files before crushing it. What he found was exciting. As the three of them used a payphone to call for Rhonda, they couldn't wait to get to the next destination. Europea Agristar Labs in a suburb forty minutes from Hub. This sister facility to Cadmus worked with plants from all over the world trying to end world hunger and devastation of flora. It also happened to house two more Projects, two more siblings they were going to rescue!


	6. Rescue Mission

It was late in the afternoon and the trio was taking a break in a café going over their plans. Rhonda had made good time getting them from the suburbs of Metropolis to Cap City, a suburb outside of Hub, in only a few hours. The trio had spent most of the late morning and early afternoon, investigating and observing Europea Agrica Labs, getting the lay of the land. It was hard to believe that it had only been four days since the kids met, and a week since Terry and Athena had escaped, observing how well the siblings worked together. At the moment, the kids were going over the data they had taken from Task Force X while eating some muffins and juice.

"You're positive that the information you took is valid? It seems too coincidental that Task Force X would be carrying information about other Hero Light Projects. What if it's a trap to lure us in for an easy capture?" Connor questioned. He kept his eyes and ears open for any sign of trouble. They wouldn't be ambushed a second time.

"Positive, I ran a full analog check verifying the data, and I even risked searching the Cadmus database to make sure everything matched. Task Force X was charged with capturing and delivering us to the nearest facility for decontamination and quarantine, until such a time we could be shipped back to Cadmus Auxiliary for reprogramming. It would make a lot of sense for the facility to have Projects in them," Terry said tapping more keys on his computer. Data was scrolling by an inhuman speeds that only he and a few others could comprehend. He brought up certain documents highlighting key details. "According to this, while the lab you were kept at was for advance genetics, and the one we were at was for medical research and application, this facility is used to study plant DNA to create hybrid plants. You know to end world hunger and repopulate flora areas. The cover allows them to keep animals, plants, and other rare resources without question. Scans of the place have revealed at least twenty sublevels under the ten surface labs. You can guess that most, if not all, the employees there have some idea what goes on below."

"We can't be certain that all employees know about the sublevels. In order to be respectful and earn their money, that lab could be like ours a real place for study. I'm sure security and some staff know about the sublevels, but from our observations most are schmucks without a clue of the true nature of what's going. That can be worked to our advantage, but we need to know everything about our siblings who are trapped there. Who are they? What kind of Projects are they? What are their powers? Where are they housed and how much time do we have to rescue them before Cadmus realizes Task Force X failed to recapture us?" Athena demanded softly.

Terry tapped a few items on his holoscreen and the documents were replaced by two pictures along with the information pertaining to the two of them appeared. There was a male and female who looked to be both around fifteen years old. The boy had coffee colored skin, light brown eyes, and block style black hair. The girl was ivory skinned, with medium length orangish red hair and brown eyes. The most startling point of interest was her pale white wings coming out of her back. "Meet our brother and sister; Projects G.L. JR. and Hawklady."

"You mean Lucas and Shania."

"Where'd you get those names from?"

"When I was choosing names with Amber she let me look at a name book. I memorized several to help us name our siblings when we found them. Lucas means light bearer and Shania is she who arrives. They seem to fit and anyways they can change them if they don't like them."

"We can discuss names later. Right now we should pay attention to the details about siblings. Because our actions they're moving them overseas tomorrow to Malkavia. If they make it over there, we'll never see them again. So stay focused and read their profiles."

"Right!" both of them said. They started reading and what they found shook them to the core. They hadn't realized just how far the Light would go when it came to creating hero soldiers to use. Each of them had been designed with a specific purpose to fulfill.

_Project Green Lantern JR. Profile and Stats. Purpose: To kill and replace all Green Lanterns on Earth. Secondary Purpose: Law Enforcement Capacity for Project Hero Light. Type of Project: Green Lantern JR. is a selective traits Project. Genetic Donors: DNA acquired from G.L. Jon Stewart and combined with free lance heroine Vixen aka Mari __Jiwe McCab__ for future power use. Green Lantern energy acquired from G.L. Hal Jordan curtsey of Black Hand. Growth and Development: Biopod incubation for nine months. Surgery to install artificial "ring" on the heart at three days old. Recovery in the NICU one week. Subject Green Lantern JR. has been on a strict marine/police officer training regiment since infancy. Introduction to governmental, state, federal laws at age 2. Laws from ally countries age 3. Age 5 international law studies begin. Age 6 law making theory and practical applications begins. At the same time Green Lantern energy growth is high enough to begin training in use of powers. Continue with Growth Plan 7H and Health Plan 5R. Handler: Board of Light recruited Carol Ferris aka Star Sapphire for training in exchange for finding more purple ring holders. GL JR. ring is artificially connected to via wifi to his lantern and can recharge his levels by saying oath. Has developed unique talent to make constructs real. Could be the result of latent psiconic powers. Stats: G.L. JR. is physically fitter and posses a clear rational mind for law enforcement then anyone on the Earth. A no nonsense strict code of honor defines him. Has unique almost animal like instincts for survival attributed to female donor making him a great threat. Weakness: Has difficulty adapting to situations outside of normal enforcement regime. Comments: Green Lantern JR. is the perfect soldier and enforcer of the law. Is dedicated, focused, and honorable to a fault. Integration with the rest of Project Light scheduled for after he finishes getting use to Project HL._

_ Project Hawk Lady (HL) Profile and Stats. Purpose: To kill both Hawkman and Hawkgirl and replace. Secondary Purpose: Stealth and Recon with EMT training. Type of Project: Genetic Enhancements on a breeding Project. Genetic Donors: DNA acquired from Thanigarians hosts during a fight in Midway City. Metahumans genetic process and resequencing applied to increase power. Growth and Development: Biopod incubation for ten months. Subject HL wings sprouted and molted for the first time at 6 months. Stealth training begins at age 2. Recon exercises introduced at age 3. Wings molt for a second time at age 4. Age 5 wings are fully developed and subject displays unique ability to reabsorb her wings fully into her body. Age 6 fire powers emerge and weapons training starts. Age 7 start EMT training and application. Continue with Growth Plan Z9 and Health Plan W10. Handlers: Shadow Thief is in charge of stealth and recon in exchange for revenge against Thanigarians. Firefly brought in to teach pyrokinetic abilities in exchange for tech development and funding. Stats: HL is the product of genetic enhancement on Thanigarian DNA resulting in unique metahumans mutations alongside normal Thanigarian gifts of flight and communication with avian life forms. Flexible lithe body and sharp reflexes make HL the perfect stealth and recon expert. She is very observant, clear minded, and passionate. Weakness: Fear of losing control of fire powers and unnecessary violence. Comments: Hawklady is the idyllic of her training and shows strong interest in the medical field. Integration with other Projects should be easy once she is use to G.L. JR._

"Cadmus doesn't fool around when it creates living weapons. Even if we manage to free them, how are we supposed to convince them to come with us? I doubt they'll come peacefully. Not to mention the whole removing the implants from their head gig," Connor pointed out. This was getting more complicated by the minute.

"They have inkmarks too and I felt their conscience brush mine when we scouted the place earlier didn't you two feel it?" Athena asked getting a nod from both of them. "We don't know what they're lives have been like, but if Terry and I could have doubts about Cadmus, I'm sure they do to. We can use our bond to share memories, convincing them to come with us. Not to mention with the nanite solution we can eradicate those implants no problem."

"That still leaves us the problem of carrying out this rescue mission. As it stands, the odds of the three of succeeding alone are very low. I've crunched the data and Athena's gone over the circumstances in her mind. Connor, we need help. It's the only way we're going to prevent the transfer is if we have help. Cadmus will know soon that TFX failed to capture us and lock down the facility before we have a chance to raid it."

"I know that, but you just have to have faith. Beyond, I mean Terry, can hack the security and you can handle any plan of rescue while I protect all of us from capture," Connor insisted.

"To risky with only the three of us. Our chances of success go up spectacularly if we call in backup. I know you don't want the League's help, and considering they're still occupied by the villianary rise up, we can't asking them for help, but what about your team? Young Justice could help us. They're not going to lock us up or experiment on us."

"She has a point."

"Alright, I'll call them I just hope they're willing to go against League orders. Superboy to Young Justice, come in Young Justice."

The communicator crackled and soon there was a flood of voices coming out of it. Superboy winced in pain. "Whoa, one at time you're hurting my ears."

"Superboy! Thank Mars we found you! We've been so worried about you," Miss Martian spoke up relief was evident in her voice.

"Are you okay? Did those strangers hurt you? Why haven't you contacted us until now? Do you have any idea how worried we've been?" Kid Flash demaded so rapidly his sentences merged into one.

"We've been chasing your super behind all over the place. We've gone from a town in Rhode Island to the highway and the suburbs of Metropolis!" Artemis whined.

"What about those two beings you found? Who are they and what are you doing with them?" Robin wanted to know.

"Silence please and give our friend a chance to answer. Superboy, I'm glad to hear your voice. You had us greatly concerned going AWOL like that. Please, give us your position so we can collect you and take you back to Mt. Justice. I'm sure Red Tornado and the League would be happy to hear your okay and ask about your solo adventure."

"Aqualad, I'll give you my position, but I can't leave just yet. There's something I need to do first and I need your help, the whole teams help. I promise to explain everything when you guys get here, but not over the communicator. It could be bugged."

"Superboy I think you should…"

"Kaldar please, this is important. I wouldn't ask for help if I didn't really need it. There are lives at stake and time is not on our side. Trust me like I did with you."

The line was silent for awhile and he feared that Aqualad would reject his request, but finally he came back on and said. "We trust you. Tell us where you are and we'll be there soon." Superboy gave him the coordinates to a large wooded area two miles from the complex and told them to meet him in an hour. He shut off his communicator looking at the duo. "They're coming we should get ready to meet them."

"Then its time to show you our costumes," Terry said gleefully. Twenty minutes later they were at the reindiview place, were Terry was pulling out items from his duffel. Two were weapons that belonged to Athena. A synthetic magic golden lasso made of a super tough, high density, and flexible fiber that could stretch and change shapes along with electrocuting people and inject truth serum into its victims. The other was a pair of bracelets Wonder Woman had donated to a museum that Checkmate had stolen and modified. When you pressed the red stars a photonic shield would appear. Terry was pulling out a body suit and loading weapons into it. The two went behind some trees to change while Connor pulled on his leather coat and gloves to add to his normal look. He soon heard the bioship and warned the others to stay out of sight until he called them over.

Young Justice exited the bioship and immediately swarmed him giving him high fives and asking if he was okay which he reassured them he was. "I'm sorry for worrying you, but I have a good reason for not contacting you for so long. I had to protect some people I met from harm."

"Who are these people Superboy? Does it have to do with the favor you want to ask?" Aqualad questioned. He could tell the clone was acting very tense and he noticed movement behind the trees. He tensed ready to fight, but Superboy gave him a look. The rest of Young Justice stood still and at attention, never seeing Superboy act this protective before. Whoever his guests were they must have meant a lot to him.

"I want all you to keep an open mind and trust me when I say my friends aren't the enemy and that we need your help. This is so hard to explain I don't know where to begin. I'm stilling finding this hard to believe myself."

"Why don't you start by introducing us to your friends?" Robin suggested. The other's nodded in agreement and waited for him to make the next move.

"Right, come on out I don't think they're going to hurt you." Superboy called over shoulder. Two figures emerged from the shadows and the moonlight shone bright, dazzling on them, as they stood near Superboy. Young Justice stared in utter discombobulating at the new arrivals.

The girl was dressed in red combat boots with a white strip on the side, red leather pants with a blue strip on her thigh with white stars and double chain gold belt with a lasso attached to it. Her top was a medium length blue torso red sleeved shirt with the Wonder Woman emblem on it. She had the bracelets, star earrings and a gold headband with red stars on top of her head. The little boy next to her was dressed in a black suit with a silver utility belt and red crimson bat holding a full face cowl, looking at them strangely especially Robin. The two of them eyed each other having a silent conversation before they looked away.

Both Projects took a step closer hiding behind Superboy, who comforted them telling them it was okay. Artemis broke the silence said the first thing that popped into her head. "Just how many clones are walking around these days?"

"Smooth blondie really smooth."

"Shut up red as if you weren't thinking the same thing!"

"Guys please let's not fight."

"Enough! Superboy it seems you did have a good reason to go rouge, but right now we need an explanation if we are to help you. Who are your new friends?"

"These are my friends, teammates, siblings, really my family from Cadmus. This is Project W.G. a and he's Project Batman Beyond," Superboy explained. They had already decided to wait until after the mission to tell them their new names. It was easier this way for simplicity sake.

"Wait he's a clone of Batman? He's just a little kid!"

"It's rude to interrupt and for your information except for Kr, our hybrid leader, neither I nor W.G.a are clones."

"Beyond is right. I'm a breeding Project and he's a eugenics one. Perhaps you should sit, this could take a little while to explain fully," W.G.a said. So they all sat as they explained the last week to Young Justice. There were a few interruptions, but half hour later everyone was caught up. It was an unbelievable story yet they had seen and done so much it wasn't that hard to believe. It would take a little getting use too eventually they would accept the two. Still there was the matter of the trio's favor.

"Superboy, I understand the urgency to rescue the rest of your "family" from Cadmus, but we are not equipped to deal with this kind of mission on such short notice. We barely made it out alive when we saved you. We should contact the League."

"The League is to busy and even if we called them they drag their feet or try to go through other channels wasting precious time while G.L JR. and Hawklady are taken overseas to Markavia. That country doesn't have an extradition treaty with the US. We'd never get them back!" Superboy argued.

"Security will be increased ten folds during the transfer once it's certain that Task Force X has failed to capture us. We only have window of a few hours to work with if we are going to pull of this rescue."

"It's not as if we don't have a plan. We've watched the place for hours and researched it extensively. We can do this if we all work together. The risks are greater, but the risk of failure is too high not to try."

"Aqualad, I think we should help them. They've already gone to great lengths to avoid capture and be reunited with Superboy. Superboy isn't going to back down from this and its better we help them then leave them on their own."

"Miss Martian is right. What kind of heroes would we be if we turned our backs on our friend when he needed us?"

"We didn't start this team as a social club. We formed it to prove ourselves to the League. Sometimes that means disobeying orders and doing what's right."

"Yeah, besides I want to give Cadmus some payback for trying to clone us!"

"You are all correct and sometimes even the mightiest current needs to join the tide. Tell us your plan and what we can do to help."

Beyond opened up his computer, which he'd attached to his wrist, showing a large three d model of the complex both above and below. Using real time satellite data and input from their observations he showed the location all personal, genomorphs and robots. "Alright, the labs above ground will close for the night, leaving a skeleton crew and security force in the top part and only a handful of the guards know about the three secret entrance to underground facility; located in this elevator, the janitors closet and the woman's bathroom. Each elevator brings the crew to the lobby of the first floor. Our targets are on Levels 15, 8, and 3."

"When the place was built they used the bedrock to reinforce the facility, but didn't take notice to how extensive the nearby cave system was. With a bit of programming and my own calculations I've discovered a system that will take me, W.G.a and Kr to level fifteen. Europea is housing the Projects in the same room with six guards, a couple of genomorphs and security grid. The cave system lets out near the plumbing, which we can use to get to the room undetected. When we receive your signal we'll take out the guards and genomorphs freeing our friends. I'll inject them with the nanite solution and these two can use our bond to free them."

"Can you inject them without a syringe?" Miss Martian asked. Beyond flexed his hands turning them into claws with sharp points. He had mentioned his protobat suit had unique qualities and this appeared to be one of them.

"While we come from underground the rest of you need to take out the perimeter and cameras from above so our escape route isn't compromised. Once you've secured the top, take the women's and janitor's shafts down below. Aqualad, you along with Kid Flash and Robin should head to Level Eight, where the main computer core is. Between the three of you, I have confidence in your ability to copy all the data they have and destroy it. Damaging that database should put Cadmus behind by months. The girls will head to Security HQ and commence a lockdown securing all our enemies, so that we can meet up on Level Two and get out. This isn't going to be easy and a lot can go wrong, but if we stick to the plan we have a chance to survive. Any questions?"

"Yeah I have one what should we call you two? I mean your Project names don't exactly roll off the tongue. Hmm, hey, what about Wonder Girl and Batboy!" Kid Flash suggested brightly.

"That's pretty clever. I like it."

"I don't! I'm not going be called by that ridiculous moniker! Why can't I be Batman Beyond?"

"Because you're a little kid and it takes to long to say? Tell you what when your older and we'll call you that, but right now your Batboy okay?"

"Fine, but I reserve my right to be addressed by something else. Let's get started shall we? We have siblings to save."

Twilight had just faded and the normal staff had left when the mission commenced. A quick scan revealed the perimeter was up and running and they even had some nasty looking guard dogs patrolling the perimeter. This would prove a challenge, but they were up for it. First step was to get rid of the dogs.

Artemis took careful aim and fired three arrows over the perimeter releasing a sleeping gas. The guards started to go down, but not fast enough. Flipping over the invisible line Aqualad and Robin took out the guards and Kid Flash and Miss Martian used their talents to create a break in the grid for the group to slip through. They entered through a side entrance and hugged the walls. Robin was busy hacking the system changing the video feed and turning off sensors. He really needed to thank Batboy for giving him the codes to entering the system. That kid knew his computers! Still it was awkward to think about that kid being Batman's son. This would take a little adjusting too.

"The skeleton crew has been locked down in their labs and the doors sealed. What about the guards?"

"Miss Martian?"

"I managed to use my psychic powers to put them to sleep. I'm going to shift into one and give them a status report. Hopefully they won't notice anything strange about my voice," Miss Martian responded shifting into one of the guards and picking up his walkie. After memorizing his name and hearing his inner voice she spoke. "This is Lt. Sharp reporting in. There was a perimeter breach that my men investigated. It turned out to be a couple of raccoons. All is proceeding normally above ground. Anything unusual to report?"

"Negative, things are proceeding normally down here. Everyone's preparing for the big Project transfer tomorrow afternoon. We're lucky Dubbilex was able to round us up some genomorph trolls to help us with the equipment. Keep a lookout for Task Force X, they should be arriving in the next couple hours."

"Will do."

"Oh and one more thing Sharp. You might want to check in with your doctor your voice is starting to go."

"Fwee, that was close. What about Superboy's team are they in position?" Kid Flash asked.

"I'll check. Artemis to Superboy come in. We're about to proceed to the lower levels. How's your team progressing?"

"Were almost to the sewer pipes it's just taking a little longer then normal to get through the cave system. We have to be careful not to destroy too much of the rock bed or it could collapse on top of us."

"Okay I found the pipe! We're ready to make our move!" Wonder Girl added.

"Proceed with caution and be careful. Contact us if you run into any trouble. We'll meet you at the rendieview point in twenty five minutes. Aqualad out. Miss Martian you and Artemis take the elevator in the girl's room and take out security. We'll take the janitor one and retrieve the data."

"Don't forget to destroy the computer core. Good luck!" Miss Martian said, flying through the air with Artemis scorching on her heels. The girl's restroom looked normal except for the handicap stall with an out of order sign. The girl's felt for a hidden switch behind the toilet and soon they heard a click. The toilet rolled to the side revealing a hidden shaft. The girl's rode down prepping for the challenge. "I'm so nervous. What if we mess up? This is Superboy's family were talking about!"

"Not really I mean sure they were all created by Cadmus, but they all have different donors."

"Family doesn't have to be all about blood. I've never seen that much emotion in his face before. He really cares about his siblings."

"Sorry, I just find it hard to wrap my brain around the fact there are more Projects out there and _they_ aren't even sure how many there are. Your uncle could have a counterpart somewhere or my ste I mean uncle as well," Artemis quickly covered up her slip. She was thankful that Miss Martian didn't respond. She had a private mission to carry out for her almost "stepdad" and Batman, in exchange for all the help they were giving her and her mom. The doors opened and the duo found themselves face to face with a bunch of robots and a couple of genomorphs and two guards.

"What the? Stay right where you are!" The guard shouted raising his laser only to have it flung out of his hand along with his partner's radio. The two girls' sprang into action. Miss Martian camouflaged diving into the gaggle of genomorphs having them attack each other as they went after her. Artemis turned her bow on its side and swung with all her might knocking the heads off the bots before shoving the rest into the closing doors. She pulled an arrow releasing the sleeping gas for the humans. The two girls nodded and took off towards the Security HQ.

The boys had run into similar problems when they had arrived on Floor Eight. Kid Flash had managed to dismantle most of the robots with super speed and Robin and Aqualad took turns against the humans and genomorphs. They were a lot stronger then the last time they had faced them and finally managed to get in the computer core without alerting additional forces. Robin's smoke bombs had the staff chocking and Aqualad gave them each a little jolt to knock them out. Now Robin with Kid Flash's help was hacking into the mainframe downloading all available data on Cadmus and its associates into a disk. "You wouldn't believe how many levels of security they have! I tell you I envy that kid he's a far better hacker then me."

"Your new "little brother" just designed this stuff that's all. I'm surprised by what I'm reading. That plant stuff they're working on upstairs? Down here it looks like they're exploring the option of terraforming the world into their own image. These people are seriously bad news."

"Agreed, their ability to steal and grow Projects from DNA from heroes is just one of their many talents. Destroying this information is the only solution. How much longer until you have it all? We need to meet up with Superboy's team."

"Just give me a little more time its taking a little longer then I thought," Robin said as the screens started flashing and trying to push him out. "I've been detected! Oh man this is bad."

While Young Justice was busy doing their task Superboy's team had climbed through the pipes steadily making their way towards their siblings. Their inkmark bond vibrated as the got closer to the target. Finally Batboy stopped the trio near a junction. "According to the plans this pipe runs next to the ventilation shaft that leads to their holding room. There are pressure sensors so we'll have to be careful. No staying put longer then 3.5 seconds and no more then 15 pounds if you can help it." Batboy took a small laser from his belt and cut a hole in the pipe and into the shaft. Wonder Girl went first, levitating a few inches above the shaft followed by Batboy and Superboy who had the toughest time watching his weight.

The group finally made it to the destination on the far wall of the holding room. There were cages of avian life, squawking like crazy next to industrial size locker. The tables were covered with law books, manuals, and a few odds and ends they couldn't identify. There was also the usual computer council and biopods with genomorphs monitoring the two Projects with a couple of guards. There was a lot of security. Two teens were dressed in white and black bodysuit/dress with their symbols on their chest.

"Okay on my count, I'll take out the guards while Batboy deals with the cameras. Wonder Girl free them from their pods. If they attack lasso them until we can inject them with the nanites and use our bond on them."

The guards heard some commotion and went to investigate the vents when it was kicked out with such force in indent on the far wall. Superboy jumped down kicking his feet out knocking back their heads nearly causing their jaws to break. Recovering quickly they began to fire at the teen who ignored the bullets while keeping an eye out on his teammates.

Batboy raced across the ceiling thanks to the magnetic locks on his boots. His protobat suit was a technical dream comes true. Synaptic reflexives, bio enhancement muscles, rocket boots and he could shoot bolos and batarangs out his arms! His utility belt held a lot of cool gadgets and toys Batman only dreamed about. The cowl had communication features and digital senses. There were a few features that still needed tweaking. The camouflage feature only worked for about ten minutes before overheating and his grappling wrist guards only worked on two. Plus he still hadn't gotten the glider wings cape and proofing done yet, but he loved his suit. He attached the EM pulse generator to the cameras knocking them out. "Security down, what about the guards?"

"Hey they weren't much of a challenge. Standards must be pretty low if this is the best they have. Wonder Girl have you freed them yet?"

"Just about done!" Wonder Girl respond ripping open the biopods. The little genomorphs ran away frightened. The trio looked at their siblings with hope in their eyes. The two Projects were just opening their eyes. They blinked a few times and looked at their saviors. Scowls appeared on their faces and the two attacked with bolts of green energy and fireballs.

Wonder Girl deflected the bolts with her bracelets and Superboy took the fire feeling only a tickle. Batboy fired several batarangs at the duo trying to stop them, but they flew out of the way.

"Watch out! Here they come!"

Hawklady flew into the air, screeching like a bird of prey which was amped up by the sounds of the bird prisoners; the girl used the shadows and light to confuse them before launching herself at Wonder Girl and Batboy firing flames. Wonder Girl twisted out the way activating her shield deflecting the flames. She threw a punch connecting with Hawklady's shoulder causing her to wince. Batboy rocketed into the landing on her back trying to force her down, but she threw him off coming at them again.

At the same time Superboy was using his heat vision trying to melt through the blast doors that Green Lantern JR. had brought to life with his powers. He rushed forward intending to demolish the blast doors, but they vanished to be replaced by green cuffs dragging him down. "I'm trying to help you brother!"

"We are Projects of Cadmus and your breaking protocol. You need to be in your biopod Kr," Green Lantern JR. coldly informed him.

"There's more to life then Cadmus! I'm not leaving you or my sister here to be weapons," Superboy snarled pulling on the restraints. He started dragging the boy closer, and then he flipped him over his head crashing into Hawklady. "Wonder Girl, Batboy hurry! Inkcheck!"

The struggling Projects let out a moan of pain as their ink marks appeared. Wonder Girl pulled tighter using the electricity on low to keep them subdued, as Batboy injected the solution into their brains getting rid of the implants. Superboy grabbed their hands holding tightly as the memories were exchanged.

_ Green Lantern JR. was bleeding heavily and panting as he tried to avoid vomiting. He never wanted to enforce the death penalty for traitors again. It wasn't right for eight year old to deal with this._

_ Hawklady wanted to fly outside and be free. Not stuck inside having her wings broken again so she could learn stealth, recon, and EMT skills for herself. The eleven year old cried praying for a new life one day.  
_

"Shania, Lucas are you okay?" a voice said. It took a few seconds for them to realize the trio meant them and those were their new names. They were nice names and they weren't going to change them as they nodded.

"Big brother, little brother and sister you came! You answered our prayers!" Hawklady exclaimed cheerfully. Tears of joy streaked down her face.

"We can talk about that later we need to get out of here before our Handlers come. Our stuffs in the locker, you should free the birds they'll cause a distraction," Green Lantern JR. pointed out.

Wonder Girl ripped open the locker revealing a lantern, nth metal bo staff, and a hawk mask. GL JR. tied his lantern to his side not knowing how to send it to a dimensional pocket. Hawklady slipped on the mask, grabbing the staff. More guards were pouring in as they freed the birds. She commanded them to attack the robots and humans.

It was chaos as they made their way to Level Two. Birds were biting and slashing humans. Humans were being jailed by green energy and the trio continued to assist wherever they could. They made it to the juncture where the rest of Young Justice was holding their own. They had succeeded for the most part of their mission, but there was still plenty of security that wasn't locked down. Superboy fired some heat beams splitting some pipes and knocking them down. They took out the genomorph trolls that were battling Aqualad.

"Superboy! I see your mission was a success," Aqualad said bashing back some medium size genomorphs and electrocuting a few. Behind him, Artemis was down to only a couple arrows and using Kyūdō, the art of bow martial arts, to rip apart all the robots with Miss Martian clearing the way to escape. Kid Flash was zipping and zapping creating wind force pushing back several of the guards, while Robin was flipping around and tying up stragglers. He noticed a guard about to strike Batboy in the head with a high tech club and without thinking, fired an exploding birdarang causing the man to crumble. Batboy returned the favor firing an elbow grappling tying up two men behind him. Wonder Girl and Hawklady were in the air using their weapons of choice forcing the guards back into other rooms before GL. Lantern sealed them in. "That's the last of them. We must hurry or our escape shall be cut off!"

"Oh I'm afraid it's too late for that kiddies. You may have handled the weak pawns, but now you face the knights and rooks," an inky voice whispered startling the group. Color vanished from Hawklady face; she _knew that voice!_

Shadowy tendrils materialized all over the place smacking the group around. Miss Martian tried to use her TK to freeze them, but were unaffected by her powers. She let out a curse as she was wrapped up in tightly in the clutches of the Shadow Thief.

"Miss Martian hold on I'll help; hey let me go!" Artemis shouted kicking and screaming. She tried to bite, but agent Mammoth who had taken the Venom/Blockbuster was immune to her little attacks.

"Hey drop her you punk or I'll make you! Hey what the ahhhhhh!" The Omega droids had lassoed Kid Flash's limbs and as he went down he saw dozens of Genomorphs grab a hold of Aqualad pining him in such a way he couldn't use his powers.

Robin was shot in the chest with a taser and then hit across the head and drop kicked. He tried to retaliate, but his weapons were snapped. His arm was pulled nearly out of the socket before cuffs were slipped on him by the blond muscleman. Through his bruised eye he saw Batboy struggling against an android that was using EM pulses against the protobatsuit. He tried to claw him only to be held in the air unable to attack.

Superboy watched in disbelief as the rest of the team was captured. A purplish beam of energy broke through GL JR. defenses. He tried to shield himself and counter, but was soon tied up. A blast of fire and the whooshing of a rocket was heard as Hawklady fell out the sky and tied up with flames licking at her wings by Firefly. Wonder Girl battled her hardest against a negative form of her former Handler, but the positive energy blast was too much. White Queen stepped out of the shadows and faster then the eye could see she bound the teen.

"You've disappointed me greatly W.G.a. Your punishment is only beginning. When we get back to our facility I'm going to make you wish you were never born."

"Let her go this instant! She's not a Cadmus Project, none of us are anymore!" Superboy shouted. Inside he felt helpless, for the first time in his life he didn't know what to do. His team and siblings were counting on him to keep them safe.

"That is where you are wrong Kr, you are strong I'll admit that, but Desmond ruined you by trying to control you. A fool like him could never have trained you for your purpose, but don't worry once all of you are back where you belong then the real training can begin. Even your friends here can be an asset once they've been probably programmed. Now surrender and no one has to get hurt," White Queen said. Her tone left no room for discussion.

"Don't listen to her she'll never give us up! Save yourself Superboy!" Wonder Girl shouted, before she was slapped across the face. The others protested and were given the same treatment. "You're only making things worse. What is your choice Superboy? Surrender or near death capture?"

Superboy felt a surge of energy flow through his body. The bond he felt with his siblings was so strong and mixing with his feelings for his friends. The air crackled and suddenly everything was ripping and tearing the angrier he got. White Queen took a step back confused by what was happening. "It's not possible! Superman doesn't have this power!"

"He may not, but I'm not entirely Kryptonian so this must be because of my _human donor_. You said I had a choice between surrender and capture? Well I chose freedom!" Superboy shouted unleashing his tactical telekinesis at the group.


	7. Responsibility

Friend and foe alike, watched in horror as Superboy's tactical telekinesis, started to rip apart the juncture. Pipes were busting, lights were swinging widely, as floor panels curled and peeled back. All around, everyone tried to keep their footing as the super teen directed his anger at the Handlers. White Queen took command, shooting a massive positive energy blast at the clone only for several panels to come flying into the air deflecting the blast. She growled, but refused to let go of her prey, as she watched the teen apply his new found powers on himself lifting him shakily into the air.

Several soldiers and Omega robots appeared, locking their weapons onto the boy. Superboy glared at them as his eyes burned red. He blasted at them only for the Omega robots to respond in kind creating mini explosion, that shoved everyone back several feet and causing the bedrock to quake. If they weren't careful the whole place was going to come down on them!

"I don't care how you do it, but get that clone under control now! He's too valuable to lose a second time!" White Queen ordered, her accent becoming thicker as she watched the deadly battle between the super teen and the soldiers got underway. The Omega robots and highly trained soldiers were using as much fire power as they could, as Superboy smashed through with his super strength, blasting weapons apart with his heat vision and flying around them in circles avoiding the shots. Fragments of rubble were flying through the air causing the other Handlers and soldiers alike, to dodge about or hold their ground.

A giant piece of shrapnel came flying towards White Queen, who went intangible, to avoid being impaled. "For the love of Russia can't you men hit one teen? Do I have to do everything my ah!" A tiny piece, merely three inches of jagged floor paneling, lodged itself in her shoulder. As blood started oozing out she tried to remove the shrapnel only to have her legs kicked out from under her by Wonder Girl.

"Insolence girl you'll pay for that!" The Handler unleashed a blast, but the teen girl managed to bring up her bound wrists, sending the shot right back at her forcing the Checkmate member to deflect it. She winced in pain as the shrapnel dug deeper. She was so distracted she almost missed the next part. Somehow Wonder Girl got to her feet and flipped over her Handler, using the shrapnel to cut her bindings freeing her. "W.G.a I order you to stand down now!"

"No! I'm done taking orders from you. I'm going to go help my brother!" Wonder Girl shouted. She took off _flying_ towards Superboy only to be blocked by the negative astral self of White Queen. The negative self pulsed out a large amount of radiation that the teen tried to shield herself from with her photon shield. She brought the shield straight down through the negative self dispersing it. White Queen growled and took to the air. "If it's a fight you want, W.G.a, it's a fight you're going to get! Time to see how much you've learned from your Handler!"

Elsewhere other fights were breaking out as the chaos caused by Superboy's battle gave much needed leverage to the young teens. Just then a lucky shot from a soldier's thermal blast and energy beam embedded him deep into the bedrock near Aqualad, startling several genomorphs. Superboy let out a roar touching the pipes above his head. One was a coolant pipe, which he aimed at the soldiers and robots. The soldiers screamed as the coolant started to freeze them and the robots found their joints locking. The second pipe started spraying water all over the place saturating the genomorphs who hated getting wet and were taking out their anger on Aqualad.

Aqualad squirmed and wiggled as hard as he could freeing as single finger. Focusing all his energy he zapped as much electricity he could into the genomorphs who roared in pain. They were thrashing and running about, trying to get away from the pain freeing Aqualad from their enormous bulk. Gathering up the extra water he formed giant maces and after catching his breath stared directly into the eyes of his opponents. "This time I will not go easy on you." He swung his weapons at them just as the electricity vanished causing the three smaller ones to crash into the genotrolls. Shouting in Atlantians he continued his assault before they could recover.

Artemis was taking advantage, that the monster that was squeezing her as if she was plushy, had a lousy sense of balance. When Superboy had gone postal with his new power, she managed to relax her body so when the monster weight was shifted she had enough room to use some of her self defense against him. "Time to make you croon like a loon!" She jerked her head back as hard as she could into his shoulder plexus tickling him, but that didn't loosen his grip although he started to when she smashed her foot into his instep. She maneuvered her bow enough to smack him in the nose breaking it. For her finale she rammed her entire back into his groin. Venom/Blockbuster enhanced Mammoth or not, the guy's privates hurt like hell as he let her go and screaming as if it was the end of the world.

"Come on big boy, dazzle me with something new!" Artemis spat holding her bow in a defensive position. It took all her speed to bring up the bow as the monster swung both fists at her. She felt her bow reach its breaking point as she was pushed back. Exerting as much force as she could, she managed to twist her weapon to the side directing the creature's fists downward. She jumped into the air as the Mammoth monster tried to pull its fists out of the ground landing on its back. She locked her legs around his neck as she tried using the bowstring to form bloody gashes in the rock skin. She had managed to get a few deep cuts when she was tossed off hitting her back hard against some uproot floor panels barely missing being impaled.

"Ugh, my head."

"ROOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRR!"

"I don't think so! Take this!" Artemis locked, aimed, and fired a special arrow hitting the monster dead center with titanium tip arrow laced with a paralyzing agent. The creature had almost reached her before it stopped dead in its tracks, collapsing to the ground. Breathing a sigh of relief Artemis picked herself up clutching her side. "Thanks for giving me that arrow Ollie," she whispered, as she started limping to help the rest of her teammates with their fights.

Kid Flash was not having a good time. It was only thanks to the fight going on between Wonder Girl and White Queen that he were able to get free. He had managed to vibrate one foot and part of his hand free of the Omega's lassos when the girl cried out a warning. A stray positive bolt of energy was about to decapitate him when Wonder Girl lassoed him pulling him free from the droids just as the bolt struck the ground blowing a crater where he'd been. "Thanks beautiful! I owe you one!"

"No problem ugh!" Wonder Girl shouted as the negative astral self attacked her once more. Picking up a broken piece of bedrock she flung it at her opponent causing White Queen blow it apart. The two of them went at it again. "Keep your mind on the mission W.G.a!"

"Hold on I'll help you out!" Kid Flash shouted as he lowered his goggles. He was about to race over to help her when the droids rolled all around him trapping him in a circle with their deadly blades out and rotating menacingly. "Crap, I think this is going to take a while. You want to play slice and dice? Well you got to catch me first!" the redhead shouted spinning around creating a vortex. The Omegas locked down trying to ride out the storm only to have more wind storms started stripping them down to their bare bones. Once their armor was gone Kid Flash raced in to take them apart. He ripped and tore, even biting circuitry, as fast as he could hoping they wouldn't reassemble once he was finished.

Miss Martian was having the hardest time against Shadow Thief, having never fought someone like him before. The man was able to merge with the shadows and turn them against her. Her telekinesis was useless against the shadows so she was attempting to use her other mental gifts against him. She turned invisible flying all over the place tossing random items in different patterns trying to confuse the man, but he just absorbed the items into the shadows sending them somewhere else.

"Ha, ha is that the best you can do little girl? My dear Project is stronger then you! You are weak when it comes to stealth!" Shadow Thief cackled. His eyes were noticing every shadow and diffraction of light. He saw where the light bent around Miss Martian's form and he elongated his arms wrapping them around her form forcing her visible again. He smirked as he watched her struggle. "This is pointless my dear. You don't stand a chance against me! I'm invincible."

Miss Martian's eyes glowed as she struggled to read his mind. So much of it was layered in darkness and shadows, but there was a glimpse of information just hidden behind a mental barrier. The way to beat him, but she couldn't reach it. "Come on Megan you can shed some light on this!" She sent a psiconic jolt into Shadow Thief's brain scrambling some of his thoughts. The barrier started to bend so she sent another one stronger then before. She could have cheered as the wall started tumbling down around her.

Shadow Thief bellowed in pain, his powers retreating as he shrank under the psychic assault. He raised his mental barriers, but they kept falling as Miss Martian sent blast after blast of mental energy, wearing him down. He gathered up all of his shadow powers into a sphere and slingshot it at the Martian, but she was ready for it. Using her telekinesis she turned on the overhead lighting to full blast vaporizing the sphere and much of his shadow cloak revealing his generators. She flew down smashing one and tearing off the other sending its battered frame across the floor. With one last mental blast, she shoved him into a door embedding him in there. Miss Martian made sure he was down before looking around for who she could help.

Robin and Batboy had switched attackers, thanks to some smoke bombs and biomuscle amplification. Robin let out his little laugh as he threw some grenades at Thinker who charbroiled them with a wrist laser. The evil droid locked scanners on the Boy Wonder as all his weapons popped out of arms and legs. With a demonic grin he started firing everything he had at the flipping, somersaulting flying teen. "You're good I'll admit that kid, but you're nowhere near as tough to hit as Beyond is!"

Robin ignored the pain, as bullet nicked his shoulder and he narrowly dodged a taser blast. He cartwheel around some fallen bedrock and then used a door as a springboard to launch into the air curled up as ball. He ignored the shots tearing through his cape as he uncurled hurling a string of bird-a-rangs that embed themselves in the joints before exploding causing Thinker to lose his arms. Robin grinned thinking he had the upper hand. He was ready to move in for the kill only to watch in disbelief as Thinker's arms started to regenerate at an alarming rate. "What in the world?"

"Surprised aren't you? Thank Beyond and the Light's engineering team for creating the perfect android body to match my ideal AI intellect. They came up with the concept of creating the ability to pull particles of metal from the air and reconstitute any metallic structure on my android body. The more you try to chop off parts, the faster I'll heal thanks to the metal around us including the iron in your blood!"

"Got to admit, my new little brother is a freaking genius because I'm officially whelmed."

"Beyond is a genius thanks in a large part to me, but he's no brother of yours. He belongs to Cadmus and I'll make sure of that!" Thinker snapped charging Robin at super speed. Robin waited until the last second sliding under the droids legs attaching an electromagnet. Thinker let out a shriek as his body started sizzling and sparking. A cable shot out of Robin's gauntlet as he started hacking the android's body shutting him down. Thinker let out one last shriek before collapsing.

"Beyond isn't the only genius in the family," Robin whispered as he turned his attention to see how his "little" brother was handling himself.

White Knight had shouldered his gun and was fighting hand to hand against Batboy, who was pushing his capoeira skills to the limit. He kicked low and punched hard as he could at his Handler's stomach, only to have the government agent crush his fist. Batboy winced and twisted his head out the way avoiding a punch. He fired a two batarangs and a bolo with his free hand forcing White Knight to let him go. "Better, but still not perfect Beyond. You're not committing yourself enough to the fight to win by relaying solely on your tech."

"There is more to a fight then just the moves you use to win, it takes having an advantage," Batboy whispered, as he twisted the dial on his utility belt. Instantly he was camouflaged and went on the offensive. He knew that he had only ten minutes before his camouflage failed so he was going to make it count.

White Knight grinned as his Project went invisible. This was making it more of a challenge. He listened with his ears and watched the ground like a hawk for signs of Beyond. He blocked the first punch and countered with own. Batboy kicked at his feet and clawed. It was dance of punches, kicks, elbowing and blocks. Batboy was tiring, but he knew he had one last trick as he somersaulted under his Handler's legs and then rolled sharply to the left just as White Knight kicked to the right. With him partially off balance Batboy used all the suits muscle amplification to give him a chop to the back of the neck, causing the man to drop like a stone. Batboy became visible once more as he panted his suit partially torn.

"You're…good…White…Knight…but predictable… My perfect… memory helped me win this fight."

"Batboy are you okay?" Robin asked helping to steady the little boy. Batboy nodded and noticed something on the ground that could help them escape so he quickly got to work.

In the air above, Wonder Girl was blocking positive energy blast and throwing haymakers at her Handler, who kept going intangible to avoid being struck. Both warriors were panting and showed signs of distress as the battle wore on. White Queen couldn't use her negative astral self and her blasts were getting weaker. She had to end this fight as soon as possible. "You're stronger, but you still have no commitment to what has to be done in order to win."

"You mean kill? I won't kill you even if I hate you for what you've done to me!" Wonder Girl shouted unleashing her lasso. She snagged a pipe and let a blast of hot steam at the Handler, forcing her to stay tangible so that the lasso could snag her. She swung her into the ceiling while electrocuting her. Pressing a hidden button she injected White Queen with truth serum. Time to get some answers to some important questions. "Now tell me how many Projects are involved in Hero Light and where are they!"

"Ugh, I don't know ugh! The Light only tells us what we need to know on a, ugh, need to know basis. I just know they won't give up until the Project's complete and they're ready to move on with their ultimate plan."

"Which is what?"

"I don't know ugh!" White Queen fainted from exhaustion. Wonder Girl let her loose and watched as her newest siblings dealt with their Handlers.

Green Lantern JR. was fighting with all his might against Star Sapphire. She was more experience with using elemental spectrum energy. Violet shafts of energy tore through his shields. Green Lantern JR. created a wave of green energy pushing it towards her only for her to contain it in a sphere. She picked up pieces of debris and weapons with her energy flinging them at a rapid pace only for him to snag them with green tendrils and disassemble them.

"Well love you certainly are strong, but I see how much you're weakening. My power is growing stronger because I love what I'm doing, but you're losing the will to fight. You haven't been able to keep a single construct solid. Its time to give up love."

"No, I do have the will, the will to fight for my freedom!" the teen shouted as a green aura surrounded him. The energy pulsated pushing back the purple right into her gemstone. She tried to fight back creating violet rings of energy to capture him, but GL JR. was creating an urn to contain them at the same time rapidly moving his hands in pattern creating a mirror sphere to contain her. "I wouldn't try breaking the glass unless you want to be hurt by your own power."

Nearby Firefly had lost his captive when she sucked her wings back inside body. When he tried to grab her again she spun the bo staff around releasing a hidden blade that jammed into his leg twisting hard. The pyromaniac went down as blood spurted out. "You little piece of **********. You're going to get burned for that!" He shouted unleashing a large flame storm at the girl.

Hawklady sprouted her wings and flew up watching the storm go past and roast a lot of the cavalry of Omega droids. Cadmus soldiers and Young Justice alike darted out of the way of the sweltering heat, neither side having much protection against this much heat. Hawklady saw how her friends were suffering and pulled the flames towards her. She tried to control them, but still part of her mask got burned. Ignoring the pain, she added her own flames creating an outline around her until she looked like an avenging angel. "You know what they say Firefly; play with fire and get burned!" The teen unleashed her power nearly melting the junction to pieces as she fell from the sky exhausted only to be caught by Aqualad.

Superboy had just finished knocking the heads of the soldiers and smashing the droids to pieces. Sweat was pouring down his face and he was fatigued from using his new power. Everyone was rushing towards him as he looked for a way out. The elevator was locked down and he was too tired to punch a hole. He saw the enemy recovering and getting up for round two. "We need to get out of here now!"

"I got it covered I think. Everyone hold on to each other tightly. I hope this works," Batboy whispered. He activated the damaged shadow generator which encompassed the whole group. In a split second they vanished from sight. Young Justice had once more slipped through the fingers of the Light.

White Queen dragged herself to her feet, snarling at her fellow Handlers. She refused to admit defeat to a bunch of teenagers. "Go after them! It's your tech!"

"My generator's fried I can't follow or track them!" Shadow Thief snarled. His head was pounding from the mental assault and his body was starting to turn purple with bruises.

"What's the damage report?"

"In total we've lost more then a third of our Omega droids, more then half our personal our injured or incapacitated for the time being, and the genomorphs have been cut down by thirty percent," White Knight responded. He looked around disgusted.

"They…man…to…co….almost…our entire…data…bbbasse before destroying the mainframe and backup. I don't know… about the backup backups…. But our operations have been compromised," Thinker managed to spit out. He was already rebooting and slowly pulling himself together.

"Three bases have been compromised and we've lost, four possibly five Projects, if you count Kr," Firefly stated, trying to stop the flow of blood. He needed to see a doctor soon if he wanted to save his leg.

"Not to mention Task Force X failed to do their job and we have to cover up their mess," Star Sapphire added. She was exhausted and out of power for the first time in ages.

"This is biggest disaster ever. I am_ not _looking forward to explaining this to the Light," White Queen muttered. Failure tasted bitter.

Outside, a few miles away and near the bioship, the team reappeared injured with costumes torn apart, but they were alive. Batboy chucked the shadow generator to the ground smashing it to pieces eliminating any chance of being tracked. He removed his cowl revealing a black eye and cut lip panting. "We did it, we're free of Cadmus."

"At least for the time being they can't come after us. Not with how much damage they took," Wonder Girl said.

"Are you two okay? You're not injured to badly?" Superboy asked his new siblings who were acting kind of weird with their eyes darting all over the place and twirling around. This was a totally new experience for them.

"I have some bruises and my ribs hurt from the impact of the violet energy, but I'll recover Superboy. This is amazing being outside. We've never been outside before."

"Just feel that breeze ruffling my feathers! It's the real thing and not a simulation! I love the night time! Ouch, ah I guess I should take it easy considering I nearly got burned to death huh?"

"So what do we do now? Should we take them back to Mount Justice and let the League sort it out?" Miss Martian questioned Aqualad.

"They have to meet with the League sooner or later. At least at Mount Justice it will be on our terms."

"Um, I think we're going to be meeting with the League a lot sooner then that," Kid Flash pointed out. They all looked behind him and saw their mentors approaching. Everyone groaned knowing they were going to get an earful and possibly have their team disbanded for the stunt they just pulled.

The four new friends were fearful of meeting their genetic donors no parents. What would they think or do to them? They huddled behind Superboy who took a deviant stance as the League landed. No matter what happened he was going to keep them safe.

Superman approached them with a look of anger on his face. "Red Tornado contacted us when you failed to report back in. We've been busy dealing with the massing of supervillians and finally managed to get them in lockdown, only to discover that you've broken into a sister company of Cadmus on an unauthorized mission. What in the world were you think…" he went silent as he finally took notice of the four additional members to the group along with the rest of the League.

"Holy Hera," Wonder Women gasped seeing the girl with her emblem. It just couldn't be possible could it?

"It's not possible," Hawkwoman whispered and Hawkman's jaw dropped at the sight of the winged female.

"He looks like you John, but I can feel his ring energy and its mine," Hal/Green Lantern said.

"I guess we should be careful of what we wish for," John/Green Lantern replied softly.

Batman didn't say anything instead he narrowed his eyes at the sight of the little boy who didn't back down, but gave him a look of his own not showing the slightest sign of fear, except to cling a bit tighter to the super teen.

"This is turning into a bad horror movie. I mean how many clones did Cadmus make?" Flash asked.

"That's not funny Flash," Martian Manhunter replied.

"There not clones!" Superboy snarled.

"Alright settle down son," Aquaman stated calmly.

"Yeah maybe you should take it from the top and explain everything," Green Arrow suggested. The whole League nodded in agreement folding their arms waiting for an explanation. So they told their story; starting with Beyond and W.G.a breaking out of Cadmus and attempting to make contact with Superboy. He told them about taking them to Benevolence and how they tracked down the Stones to remove the implants and fighting Task Force X. Young Justice interjected, telling them about their investigation and tracking down their missing teammate and how they agreed to help them rescue GL JR. and Hawklady who finished their tale with what happened in Europea. Beyond showed them their files and Robin offered up a copy of the data they stole. When they finished they looked up wondering what the League would do.

The League was stunned to say the least about the whole story and the depth of genetic manipulation that Cadmus would go to in order to create heroes to use. More disturbing was the fact that their bosses seemed to be preparing for a war of some kind with the teens as their generals. Knowing that they weren't clones and that Superboy was only a hybrid didn't make dealing with this any easier. Superman was visibly shaking and focused his attention on his clone. Superboy just glared at him causing the Man of Steel to lose his cool and start yelling at him.

"What were you thinking or were you thinking at all keeping a secret like this from us? You should have mentioned you were having strange dreams! Why didn't you contact the League when you found out about the first two? Didn't you trust us or your team? Then leading them into battle to rescue the other two was foolish! You could have all been killed! Why didn't you act more responsible?"

"Responsible? _I was being responsible for my family!_ How am I supposed to trust the League with my siblings if all you do is ignore me? They sought me out to help protect them! How responsible was it if I left them for Cadmus to use them?"

"I understand that Cadmus was a threat and that you might have lost your chance to save the other two had you waited, but you shouldn't have acted so recklessly! Your powers just evolved and you had little control over them, nearly killing your teammates in the process of saving them! There is a reason we have protocols in place for you to follow. It's to keep you safe and make sure things don't end up like they did here! It was only cause of blind luck you didn't end up prisoners of Cadmus again. Do you ever think about the consequences of your actions?"

Something snapped inside Wonder Girl. She wasn't about to let Superman continue to berate her big brother like this. "Leave Connor alone you big bully! He didn't do anything wrong!" she shouted at Superman as she limped in front of her brother, along with the other Projects forming a protective shield. They all held hands and gave Superman the stink eye daring him to hurt their brother again.

This surprised everyone there including the Man of Steel. No one had ever stood up to him like this or called him a bully, but he was more surprised by what she had said. "Connor?"

"Yeah, we needed real names in order to shed Cadmus from us. So with the kindness of strangers we forged a new life for each of us. I'm Athena Thermyscara Prince; he's Terry McGinnis Wayne, that's Shania Hawkins Hol and lastly Lucas Jordan Stewart. How could you, the greatest hero of them, all treat our big brother like that? He told us how you basically ignored him pretending he didn't exist. Regardless of how he came to be, how could you treat your own son like that?"

"In Cadmus we studied and learned all about our genetic donors, I mean parents, so that one day we could replace them. When we escaped we had hopes you would I don't know that you would protect us, teach us at the very least accept us instead of seeing us as genetic Projects," Terry admitted.

"From what I've seen it appears that maybe we were better off in Cadmus despite our treatment there. At least our Handlers showed a bit of affection towards us and they didn't stare or berate us like you have done," Lucas said.

"Conner has kept us safe, willing to risk everything to make sure we were protected from harm. Can you say the same? A wise friend of ours once told us something very important. He stressed how important it was to never forget. He said that the circumstance of ones birth are irrelevant," Shania started to say as the others caught on.

"It is what you do with the gift of life that truly matters," Lucas added.

"For all life is sacred and has free will," Terry continued.

"To choose the path that means the most to the individual, but remember," Athena picked up.

"That freedom is a right you have to protect not only for you, but others as well. I remember now, Dubbilex told me that the day before I was found."

Young Justice was stunned. The boys knew who Dubbilex was and were surprised that a genomorph would have gone out of his way to plant the seeds of freedom inside their minds. Still it confused them why he would try to clone them. What game was the lead genomorph playing?

Connor looked at his father with determination. "I don't care what you think of me, but I will not abandon my family. I will protect my siblings from harm including you and the League. Even if it means, quitting Young Justice and living on the run for the rest our lives, I will protect them because that's what family does. I love them."

"Whoa wait a minute you can't just leave the team! It's dangerous out there with Cadmus out for you blood!" Kid Flash exclaimed.

"We just got you back Superboy we don't want you or your siblings to leave."

"Yeah they make great additions to the team."

"What kind of lives would you have always being on the run? How will you even support yourselves?"

"I think you should reconsider. You'd be safer with us."

"Maybe or maybe not. All I know is the kindness of strangers kept us safe before and will again. Let's go everyone," Superboy said getting ready to fly off with his siblings. Lucas had already created his field and Shania was hovering above the ground while Athena unsteadily floated into the air and Terry activated his rocket boots. They were about to take off when someone spoke up.

"Wait please wait I have something to say to you," Superman pleaded.

"I don't want to hear anything you have to say."

"Please Connor, give me a second. I'm sorry."

"What?"

"I'm sorry for the way I've acted and treated you. You were right; I wasn't acting very responsible when it came to you. I was so upset that with what Cadmus had done that I failed to see you weren't responsible. I also have to admit to myself I ignored you not only because I didn't want to remind you of what you couldn't be, but because I couldn't face my own fears that I wouldn't be the father you needed. I was the last of my kind until you're arrived and I didn't know how to share my heritage with you. I've made a lot of mistakes because of my shame. Superboy, Connor I can't make up for the past four months, but if you let me I would like to try and a part of your life now."

"What about my siblings? I can't just abandon them!"

"You won't have to child. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm willing to take care of my child. I would be happy to get know Athena and I'm sure the others would too," Wonder Woman said. The Hawks nodded along with the Lanterns and Batman gave a slight nod. "If you're willing to trust us we're willing to help you I swear by Hera."

Connor hesitated and contemplated what they said. He looked over at Lucas. "Lucas? What are our legal options?"

"Legally, we don't exist because of our lack of paperwork reporting our births and Cadmus has strong claims seeing as how there our guardians. However, they have our blood and good standing meaning they have higher claim to us. Should we be picked up by Social Services they would return us to them. I think trusting them would be a good option."

"Shania, what has your recon determined?"

"Observations show they are impressive. They have full control of their powers and obviously good mentors if Young Justice is any empirical proof. They have some experience with children and I believe that they are up to challenge of protecting us from Cadmus."

"Athena tactical?"

"Safety in numbers obviously and the Leagues resources are perfect for training us to fully understand our abilities. Also living with them would give us a chance at a normal life. We could go to school, make friends and have hobbies. A real life instead of being on the run all the time. A chance to become heroes."

"Terry advice?"

"Detective skills aside, I would have to say we want to get to know our parents. You've protected us for so long and I'm thankful really, but we need to give them a chance to step up. You also need to give your father a chance, but whatever you decide will follow you. You're our leader and our brother."

"Thanks all of you. I guess the only choice is to accept, but let's make one thing clear. You have to protect them and love them with all your hearts because if I find out that you are neglecting them or they're hurt in anyway I'm taking them and running understood?"

"Understood Connor. Let's go home shall we?" Superman said. The kids joined their new family members happy to be safe and sound at last.


	8. A new Begining

By the time October ended; the five Cadmus Projects had become official members of society. The League was good at faking records, but the Projects were better. With Lucas knowledge of the legal system, and Terry's genius and hacking skills, they were able to create all their records; social security, birth, ect, by manipulating old data. Athena used her skills to create a history for each of them, as well as school records. Shania, managed to create a plausible medical history and immunizing each of them, and with Connor's help, slipped all the physical records were they needed to be. The League took care of memories, along with physical evidence, of their existence so it didn't appear strange when they appeared. A large generous donation of clothes, beddings, and personality items arrived anonymously at Mount Justice, curtsey of the town of Benevolence, for each Project. Now they were slowly getting use to having normal lives, families, and being part of the team.

Superboy and Superman entered the cave, via the zeta transport. The last two weeks had been a real bonding experience for the both of them. Superman was really trying to make up for the last four months and was slowly getting use to the role of father, teaching Connor how to use his powers and getting know the boy. For the time being, Connor was staying with his grandparents, (who chewed their son out for his maltreatment of Connor), where there was more space for him to get use to his powers. The official back story was Connor was his son by a woman he met on assignment and later passed away. He was living with his grandparents until Clark was able to adjust his hectic schedule to let him live in Metropolis. Aside from his parents, his old trusted friend Lana Lang, (who was in on the secret,) was helping Connor adjust to his new life.

"So how are you enjoying high school?" Superman asked trying to break the tension. He was still hesitant with the boy, but was getting better.

"It's a lot tougher then I first thought, but boring. The kids there are nothing like the Young Justice team. I mean, the most exciting thing that ever happens to them is tipping cows. When can I stay with you in Metropolis?"

"Soon I hope, it's just going to take some more time to adjust my schedule and sort things out with my boss. Then there's telling Lois I had kid dropped in my lap. Ah she's going to be so busy pestering both sides of me, I might never get a break. I promise though by next school year you'll be with me."

The two stop talking as Black Canary and Red Tornado walked up to them. "Greetings Superman, Superboy. How are you adjusting to living outside the cave?"

"It strange, but I really like having a roof instead of cave over my head."

"How's training in your new powers? You haven't accidently blown up anything with your new powers have you?"

"No he hasn't, but he's still got a ways to go with his heat vision. At the moment he needs a strong stimulus to use it, I'm hoping that changes. I still don't know how were going to train you in your tactile telekinesis. I don't have that power."

"I'm sure Megan would be happy to help him. So you want to go to the training room now? Your friends are watching as your sibling's parents train them. It's quite interesting really to watch. Kind of a spectacle, truth be told," Black Canary remarked as they headed to the training room.

"How are they adjusting? Are there parents treating them right? Do they seem happy? I haven't seen them in a couple days I thought I should give them a little space so they could get to know their families and," Connor stopped talking as Superman placed a comforting hand on his shoulder reassuring them it would be alright.

When they entered the room they saw Young Justice, minus Robin, in their casual wear like Superboy, with their mentors sitting on the sidelines munching on popcorn and Oreos while drinking soda watching as the others trained. It was a learning experience for everyone. Megan was the first to notice the two supers and smiled flying over to give Connor a hug.

"Superboy, I mean Connor, it's so good to see you again! It's been kind of lonely here when you moved out of the cave."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to leave you alone here Megan."

"It's cool; really I'm just glad to see you so happy for a change."

Before Connor could reply Wally zoomed up to him with a big grin on his face. "Dude you've got to give me permission to date your sister! Not only is she super powerful and hot, she thinks I'm funny!"

"What?"

"Don't mind Wally, he's living in his own delusion that Athena has crush on him just because she smiled and laughed at his annoying jokes," Artemis retorted.

"She does too! Why else would she be watching me so closely during our training spar earlier?

"Maybe to figure out a way to shut you up?"

"Settle down kids your going to disrupt the training exercise," Green Arrow said coming over.

"Besides I'm not sure Wonder Woman would let her daughter date anytime soon," Flash remarked, as they all looked back to the training area. On the far right Wonder Woman was training Wonder Girl in mid air combat. Athena's flight was more controlled and she wasn't wobbling as much as before. She had gained a lot more confidence in her abilities and it showed.

"Relax your back and straighten your shoulders it will stabilize your flight easier. Now bring up your wrists faster to deflect projectiles," Wonder Woman instructed flinging tiny pieces of metal at her. Athena blocked each and everyone coming at her mom intending to punch her, but Wonder Woman grabbed her hands locking them together. "You have to push harder if you want to break free."

"Right, I can handle that!" Athena said pushing forward with all her might breaking the lock and clearing some space. It was obvious by the grin on her face she was enjoying this training a lot better then her previous experience. She wasn't the only one.

Kaldar watched, with a bit more interest then normal, as he saw the winged girl fly through a series of hoops and obstacles as she directed two seagulls at the same time. Shania emerged from the last obstacle, chirping and squawking, sending the little birds to the two Atlantians. She winked playfully at Kaldar, before turning her attention back to her parents who were coming at her with the nth metal ax and mace. She brought up her own bo and the battle was intense as they clashed together each trying cause some damage to the other. Her laughter filled the cave as the family enjoyed their tussle.

"Do you see something you like Kaldar?"

"What are you talking about my King? I'm just admiring the skills of a brilliant air warrior."

"Perhaps, or perhaps you like how her new costume hugs her frame nicely," Aquaman teased. Shania now wore a blue chest plate showing her emblem and black pants. Also she wore bronze anklets and elbow guards with a wing guards. There was as loop on her belt for her staff and pouches for first aid. As Shania conjured a fireball and batted it towards her parents Kaldar couldn't help, but feel a little hot under the collar watching the delicate beauty.

Green Arrow and his sidekick were watching the other greens on the far left, training their kid in how to best use his powers. According to Jordan and Stewart, what Cadmus had done to the kid was unprecedented. They would eventually take him to see the Guardians, considering he was an unauthorized Lantern, but right now the goal was to track down his supermodel mom so they could meet. That would be a show in itself. Vixen could be a little high strung.

"Hmm, it looks like Lucas is schooling them in who's the Lord of the Rings. Kind of nice to see them squirm a bit don't you think?" Green Arrow asked Artemis. He was really making an effort to be a good mentor to the young girl. After all he had promised her mother he try to stem her ex's influences.

"Yeah, but I don't know I sense something about Lucas. His spirit seems committed to the training, but I don't know it's more like he's just trying to please them at this point," Artemis commented. She was wondering how much she should report back and what information she could obtain from her underground contact for her double agent duties. Besides being part of the team, both Batman and Green Arrow, wanted her to use her connections to learn more about the criminal underground to stop them.

At the moment, Jordon was firing blasts of energy at Lucas, while his father taught him to use his willpower and inner strength to manifest his desires more efficiently. They still didn't understand how he made his constructs real though. "How was that? Did you see the mini lantern I created to absorb the bolts?" Lucas questioned. He had modeled his new uniform after his dad's, but kept his gloves white to honor his "Uncle Hal" "I feel the energy coming easier and creating the field to fly much faster."

"You're improving greatly, now that you're using the right method to power up your elemental energy. Green energy draws strength from will power not love, but I have say Star Sapphire did a fine job teaching you the basics. I think we can have you ready for the trip to Oa in a few months."

Connor eyes locked onto his last sibling, who was in a sparing match against his newer, older brother, Robin. It seemed a bit unfair that Robin got to wear his costume and Terry was in capoeira robes, having Batman watch the two of them spar. Terry panted as he went for Robin's legs only for the boy to flip out of the way, but he managed to punch him in the side. Robin countered with his own thrust pushing the ten year old down.

"What's the matter? Is that big brain of yours weighing you down?" Robin joked as the two went after each other again. It was a clash of martial arts with Robin's judo against Terry's capoeira creating a mix of attacks and hits.

"It's….not…fair…that… you get to.. wear your uniform! Why can't I wear my bat suit in training?"

"Because, you have to build up your natural strength and rely less on the suit's biomuscle amplification if you want to get stronger naturally. That's why you'll be training for the most part without the suit on for the time being. Now get up, and try again Terry," Batman said in usual cold tone, but Terry and Robin both heard his undertone a slight affection.

So Terry dropped into his stance again prepared to fight Robin when he felt his inkmark tingle. He was so excited at what that meant he flipped Robin over his head and into the wall. "Connor's here!" he screamed ducking under his father's cape and running towards his brother. The others also blew off their parents; literally, as they flew or glided on a green path over until they dog piled Connor happy to see him again.

"How are you doing in the land of wheat?" Terry asked, as Connor spun him around and tossed him into the air catching the laughing boy. "Do it again!"

"Maybe another time Terry. Settle down all of you I'm glad to see you. I'm doing okay. Kansas is a bit of a bore, but I'm getting use to it. My grandparents are really nice thought I wish I didn't have to get up so early to milk cows! What about you guys? How are you adjusting?"

"Well Midway is very different then I imagined. It's not the cleanest city, but it's got some great parks and lakes nearby to go flying around in. Hawkwoman and Hawkman, I mean Mom and Dad, still getting use to that, are going to take me to the zoo and aquarium pretty soon. School is rough, but I haven't set anything on fire by accident in a week!" Shania exclaimed happily. She loved being able to go outside and fly and didn't mind pretending to be human to attend school.

"I'm still getting use to sleeping in a bed and eating normal food for breakfast, but I enjoy living with my father and Uncle Hal. Dad's constructs are nearly as solid as mine, but he can't make them come to life as mine can. I'm learning a lot in school, although it's hard being the new kid so late in the semester, but I'm looking forward to meeting my mom when they track her down," Lucas explained softly. He wasn't nearly as confident at school as he was with his hero friends, because the rules were very different.

"Mom and I are doing okay in Gateway City. Its wonderful having my own room decorated the way I want it! She also is helping me deal with my memories of Cassie. I'm hoping one day to go to Paradise Island and meet the rest of the Amazons and my grandmother. I hope she doesn't find the circumstance of my birth that strange, considering how Mom came to be," Athena admitted giggling a little. She was a lot happier and was slowly adjusting to be around so many males after being isolated from them for so long.

"Unfortunately Batman, sorry Dad, isn't letting me talk much about our lives considering the paranoia levels. Gotham is an interesting place to grow up in I'll say that much. School is bore for me considering I have a genius IQ, but it would look suspicious if I was put in a magnet school so I'm trying to dial down my brain power. I must admit this physical conditioning is similar to what White Knight put me through, but Dad isn't as harsh if I mess up. Also you'll be happy to not Robin has been an excellent big brother although not as good as you."

"Hey, I resent that! Whose been schooling you in martial arts for the last few weeks huh? Superboy can't even hack a computer!"

"True, but unlike you Connor here gives me rides and lets me experiment on him."

"Terry be nice, he's your brother just as much as I am." Connor scolded.

"It's cool Superboy, it's kind of nice to have a younger brother to play around with. I'll make sure he toes the line."

"We all will. We're not just a team were one big family right?" Megan asked.

"Yeah just what I wanted more annoying brothers and hyper sisters to tell me what to do," Artemis moaned playfully.

"Hey you know you love us! I say we start practicing more team maneuvers to get use to each other. Or I know have a sleepover so we can get to know each other better and have some fun!" Wally suggested.

"Perhaps once our new friends get more settled we'll take you up on your suggestion. For now I think we should take it slow," Kaldar suggested and the others agreed. The kids took off to the kitchen to taste some of Megan's cookies leaving the adults alone to talk.

"Well, what's in been like getting to know your kids?" Green Arrow asked. He ignored the looks of hostility and pressed on. "Come on guys rumors are going around the Watchtower and now's the chance to tell the truth."

"I am also wondering how you are adjusting to having children in your life. M'gann and I don't spend as much time together as we should so I'm eager to learn if you have any suggestions."

"Not really J'onn, after I got chewed out by my folks and hit upside the head by Lana for being a hardhead, I finally had a heart to heart with Connor. I didn't realize how vulnerable he felt and how lost he'd been without a family. They may not be related by blood, but having those four and the Young Justice team has done wonders for him. I just hope I can make up for the mistakes I made. I promised to help him with his heat vision later this week," Superman explained, his expression softening. His friends were right to call him out on his behavior earlier. Having Connor in his life was a joy. He now understood how his parents felt when they found him all those years ago.

"It was a bit of a shock, but considering I was sculpted from clay it's been a bit easier for me to adjust to having Athena around, although having a civilian identity is a lot of work. I must say I do enjoy working as curator at the museum. Still, Athena keeps begging me to help her meet her father somehow. I'm not sure what to do about that. I pray that Hera will show me what to do," Wonder Woman admitted.

"It's harder for us with Shania. Not only are her powers different then any Thanigarian we've encountered its difficult for us to pretend to be humans covering up our wings. Being private detectives gives us a little more free time, but trying to teach her about both our culture and Earth is troublesome," Hawkwoman admitted, still scared of the prospect of raising a fifteen year old. She really had a hard time relating to children.

"Also it's a challenge because Shayera and I never thought about having kids or being more then work partners, which is until recently. Most of the time we struggle to come up with a consensus of what to do, but we are up to the challenge," Hawkman informed them proudly. Though his daughter was unexpected, she was not unwelcomed in his eyes.

"Lucky for Shania she's got both parents, Lucas is still adjusting to having a father and uncle. I met Vixen once during a mission. She's a proud, powerful, and great fighter. But she didn't strike me as the motherly type. I don't know how she's going to react when I tell her that we have a kid together."

"Well at least she'll kill you instead of me! My only concern is preparing the kid for when he meets the Guardians. They are not going to be pleased one bit about this. I hope they don't take it out on the kid."

"What about you Bats? What's it like now having a chibi along with the Boy Wonder around?" Flash asked. He took a step back when Batman glared at him, but Aquaman gave his old friend a look. "Its only fair that you answer after the others talked about their kids."

"Terry is a very unique individual. His intelligence is near mine and sometimes above. The protobat suit he designed is years ahead of what I could think of. Still, he's hesitant afraid of getting attached showing emotion only when he's sure he won't be reprimand. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I will try to understand him better. He deserves a childhood I was denied. Yet, we can't be complacent."

"Batman's right we know from the data and the ambush Cadmus and their board of directors the Light won't stop at nothing to get the children back. Our main priority is training them to protect themselves from harm, while giving them a chance at a normal life," Black Canary remarked.

"Also to locate and free any remaining Projects that the Light might have a hold of. The sooner the Projects are free the easier it will be to take down Cadmus and the Light for good," Red Tornado said. The League nodded in agreement vowing to protect their kids.

Deep underground, in the auxiliary Cadmus building, all the Handlers had assembled in a dimly light room staring at the TV panels where the Light Board of Directors listened to their report. Queen was acting as the main voice for all of them and was rightly nervous as she had no idea what the Board thought of their epic failure.

"In conclusion, the loss of five key Projects along with the data and tech stolen by Beyond, has compromised our forces greatly. I also am sadden by how much of our forces have been incapacitated. I estimate at least several months of work have been set back. It shouldn't have happened especially under my watch. I willingly accept any punishment for my fellow Handlers," White Queen told them. She bowed her head and humbly waited for the Light to respond.

"Punishment? Why would you think there would be punishment? After all things are going exactly according to plan."

"Excuse me Sirs. According to plan? Our Projects escaped and are now in League custody," White Knight pointed out. He was as confused as the rest of the Handlers. This wasn't what they expected to happen.

"Precisely, each of you has pushed and trained your Projects as far as you could, but now in the hands of their genetic donors their full potential will be reached. They will become even stronger and more deadly with the training and every mission they go on."

"After all only the donors know exactly how far to push a protégé to get the desired results needed in such a short amount of time."

"Even socializing and understanding normal life will help them when the time comes to fully activate Project Hero Light. Until then, let them think they are safe and sound. They will grow cultivating relationships that we can twist and even evaluate Young Justice for us. Their time in the outside world will make them strong."

"Besides, we're not set back as far they would like to think. Any data they get will keep them too occupied to see the danger in front of them."

"When the time is right we'll reclaim them for ourselves, but for now we'll keep up our guard, keeping them in the dark. Eventually we'll let them find the rest of the Project."

"For those created by the Light will always remain loyal. Handlers prepare for Phase 2. This is only the beginning. Eventually everyone will see the Light," The Board laughed and was soon joined in by the others. Cadmus was rising from the dragon teeth again.

To Be Continued in Part 2 Adjustments.


End file.
